


Draco Malfoy and the Potter Conundrum

by shadowglove88



Series: Fidelius Series [5]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Smallville
Genre: Chloe is very amused with his behavior, Chloe pretends to be a Malfoy, Draco Malfoy does not share, Draco Malfoy is Bad at Feelings, Draco Malfoy is a Brat, Draco is not amused at having to call her 'cousin', F/M, Jealous Draco, Jealousy, Lucius Malfoy is not amused, Possessive Behavior, Reluctant jealousy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-05 04:24:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 43,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15856143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowglove88/pseuds/shadowglove88
Summary: Draco returns home for the holidays to find Chloe there apprenticing under his parents while masquerading as his cousin. The two blondes finally start to grow closer and a little more honest about their feelings for each other, but there's the fact that Lucius keeps throwing Chloe at Viktor Krum to deal with.Also, with Lana suddenly going missing and Harry just as suddenly very interested in 'Chloe Malfoy', Draco's got his hands full when it comes to dealing with Potters. And, of course, since it has to do with Lana, Zabini decides to be relevant as well.Just great.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For CelendilAU

 

It was the last day of school before the holidays, and yet Draco couldn't rejoice like the other students. His father had Flooed him last night, and relayed shocking news with the lack of emotion that was expected given the fact that the Floo Channels in school were being watched. His father had spoken of the event as if it were a joyous one, as if finally justice was served. Draco knew the man felt quite the opposite.

Bellatrix Lestrange had been found by the Aurors thanks to some anonymous tip, and when they'd raided her place they'd discovered her corpse. No one knew who exactly had done the deed, but Draco doubted that anyone was truly looking into it, at least not on the side of the Order. Bellatrix was a well-known member of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's inner circle. For the rest of the world it meant that someone who deserved death had finally been dealt it.

But for  _their_  side, well, it meant that there was a traitor in their midst, because only someone in the Death Eater Circle could've gotten close enough to Bellatrix to kill her.

According to his father, the Order had ransacked her refuge yet found "anything of value taken". Anyone would think that Lucius was talking about earthly possessions, but Draco had understood the undertone of the conversation. Whoever Bellatrix had been tutoring while she'd been murdered was missing, probably taken by his aunt's murderer.

Draco wasn't close to his aunt, yet while he mourned her death somewhat, what truly worried him was the unanswered question:  _who_  had Bellatrix been tutoring when she'd been killed?

Despite the fact that there was very little chance it was Chloe (she'd already 'passed' Bellatrix's studies for crying out loud!) the vague possibility that it could be her made Draco feel like a caged lion.

And even if it wasn't Chloe, whether it was Gaunt or Rosier, it still posed a danger to Chloe. They were connected to her, connected to whatever importance they held for the Dark Lord, and if whoever had taken the girl managed to break her, managed to get information somehow out of her - then that would put Chloe in direct danger and in the line of fire when it came to the Order.

And he wasn't the only one concerned over the identity of Bellatrix's missing pupil. Zabini sat next to him on the train ride from Hogwarts and while he never voiced his worries (much like Draco) his features were twisted and his expression clearly troubled. It was obvious that he was contemplating how this put Lana in danger.

Pansy sent Draco a cow-eyed look and he turned away from her, his icy-blue eyes on their surroundings. It disturbed him how he'd been able to tell that it hadn't been Chloe when Pansy had kissed him. He hadn't felt that electric, nearly painful sensation whenever she kissed him, hadn't wanted to pull Pansy closer. No. He'd felt disgust. And anger.

If Chloe had been with Bellatrix for some inexplicable reason, and she'd gotten herself kidnapped, without even having said goodbye to Draco, he'd make her pay for that.

Groaning, he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

Honestly, that girl was going to be the death of him!

He didn't think he could handle it if she went and disappeared  _again_. Not again.

Finally they arrived at their destination and Draco saw his father waiting for him on the platform. He took in a deep breath, grabbed his things, and emerged from the train without a by-your-leave to the others. He ignored Potty, Weasel and Mudblood as they hurried towards the Weasley Clan (seriously though, they were so large they could - scarily enough - start their own nation), and instead moved towards his father.

Lucius Malfoy didn't hug Draco like the other parents did. He merely eyed him, patted his shoulder stiffly, and motioned for him to follow as he led the way towards the Apparating station.

They didn't exchange any words, nothing, until they finally were in the safety of Malfoy Manor's grounds.

Once they were there, Draco turned immediately to his father. "Was it Chloe? Was she taken?"

Lucius Malfoy raised an eyebrow before he sighed and shook his head, motioning for Draco to follow. "No, it was not Chloe. She already finished her pupilage under your aunt's supervision."

Relief filled Draco but he refused to show it.

Lucius sighed as they turned the corner in Malfoy Manor. "All that matters is that-."

Draco didn't hear all that mattered. He stumbled to a stop in his tracks as he entered the room to see his mother and Chloe seated by a table, cups of tea in their hands.

Chloe wore a casual evening gown, one similar to the one his mother wore around the Manor during the days. Her hair was set up on her head and diamonds sparkled at her ears and throat. As she sat, conversing with Narcissa Malfoy, she looked every bit a highborn Pureblood lady.

He'd never seen her like this, she'd always been so down to earth, and yet now-now this was a whole different side to Chloe.

Both women turned and saw him at the same time, putting down their cups.

"Draco!" His mother moved to him gracefully and hugged him. "I have missed you so much!"

Draco numbly patted his mother's back as he gazed at Chloe from over her shoulder.

The blonde looked somber and clearly worried, and yet she was poised as she stood with her hands clasped behind her back. She appeared so at home in Malfoy Manor, with his parents. Draco had never felt the sensation he did right then watching her.

His mother pulled away and he didn't even notice her absence, nor that he himself had immediately made his way towards Chloe to stand in front of her. "You look different."

Chloe tilted her head to the side and gave him a small smile which appeared genuine despite the worry in her green orbs. "Welcome home, Draco."

He fought the urge to gulp and was highly annoyed at himself and his reactions to her. "You left without saying goodbye." That sounded accusing even to his ears.

" _Draco_ ," Lucius scolded from behind him. "She wasn't there for your entertainment."

Narcissa sighed and placed a hand on her husband's shoulder.

Chloe's greens went to his parents before they returned to him. "Someone took Lana."

Ah. So it was Rosier who'd been taken.

The blonde lowered her gaze to the ground and inhaled deeply. "They'll torture and kill her, like they did Bellatrix." She licked her lips in an obvious attempt to give herself a couple of breaths to get her emotions back in order. She was doing a surprisingly well job of it given the fact that she'd always been so animated before. It would appear that she was not only learning well under his parents' tutelage, but excelling. "I  _hate_  the Order."

"Our Lord will not let anything happen to her." Narcissa came to Chloe's side immediately to place a hand on her shoulder. "He will find her before they can harm her."

"What I don't understand is how they found her in the first place." Chloe trembled under his mother's touch. "The Fi-." She cleared her throat and looked away. "It should be  _impossible_."

"It should be," Draco agreed. "The only way any of you could be discovered is if the Secret Keeper told the Order." At everyone's surprise he snorted. "When Lana was in Hogwarts, Zabini and I figured out that the Fidelius Charm had been cast on her."

His father looked shocked.

His mother proud.

Chloe merely sat down and picked up her cup of tea. "He's right, you know."

"None of the primary Secret Keepers would ever tell anyone." That was Lucius.

"So there were  _multiple_  Secret Keepers." Draco's eyes narrowed. "I'm assuming you two are a part of the group."

" _I_  am." Lucius raised his head. "Your mother is a Secondary Secret Keeper."

Which meant that his mother wouldn't be able to tell anyone even if she wanted to.

"Was Aunt Bellatrix a Secret Keeper or a Secondary Keeper?"

"That is none of your concern." His father's voice was harsh. "You should not even know as much as you do now."

Draco's eyes narrowed at his father's idiotic concerns. "If she was a Secondary Keeper then the secret was safe with her. But if she was a Primary Secret Keeper then she could've told someone."

"She wouldn't." That was from Chloe, quick and decisive. "She taught me to withstand any sort of questioning I might endure if the Order got to me. She wouldn't have caved under torture." Her hands began to shake. "And Lana couldn't tell them even if she desperately wanted to - not with the other Primary Keepers alive."

Ahhh... so the girls themselves were Secondary Secret Keepers.

"We should not be speaking of this while Draco is present." Lucius narrowed his eyes.

A muscle jumped in his cheek as Draco opened his mouth to say something that would no doubt land him in a whole heap of trouble.

"Lucius, he already knows most of it anyway." Chloe shook her head against the man's concerns. "And it's not like you'll accidentally slip and tell him anything the Dark Lord doesn't want him to know." She paused, eyeing her fingers, which gripped her cup tightly. "And anyway, even if you did, he'd merely become a Secondary Secret Keeper."

"Only those whom our Lord gives permission to are allowed to become Secondary Secret Keepers, you know that," Lucius chastened.

Narcissa sighed. "None of the Secret Keepers would tell, Draco. None of them would ever betray Our Lord that way."

Lucius still did not look happy about discussing this, but it was obviously two (Chloe and Narcissa) against one. "Which is why we all need to examine a possibility Chloe hasn't wanted to."

"Because it is  _not_  a possibility!" Chloe shot up from her seat. "Lana  _would not_  turn against Bellatrix! She wouldn't do this!"

"My sister said that during her tutelage Lana was showing reservations about our mission, our war." It was obviously hard for his mother to talk so calmly in the face of her sister's death, but she was a pureblood lady who knew how to bare grief elegantly. "She said that Lana voiced concerns about the Death Eaters and doubts about our Lord's motives, about his methods."

Chloe's eyes widened. "She wouldn't-he's done so much for us-she  _couldn't_ -!"

"She  _did_." That was Lucius. "Bellatrix said that it seemed Lana was corrupted during her time in Hogwarts." Lucius' eyes narrowed. "Hogwarts is a breeding ground for Dumbledore's anti-Death Eater propaganda." He hesitated. "We have to accept the fact that there is a possibility Miss Rosier turned against our cause."

Chloe looked close to being sick. "She  _couldn't_  have done this."

"Bellatrix was  _her_  Secret Keeper, Chloe." Lucius' voice was hollow. "Her death set Miss Rosier's voice free."

Draco's eyes widened as he realized that there weren't multiple Primary Secret Keepers, but there was a Secret Keeper for each girl!

" _What_?" From the shock on Chloe's face, it was obvious that she hadn't known this either. She then shook her head. "Lana would'n't have known. She couldn't have-."

"It came up during one of their sessions." That was Narcissa, softly. "It seems that Lana was making many unsettling and questionable inquiries during the days leading up to Bellatrix's death."

Chloe looked lost as she sat down hard on her seat, her voice tiny. " _She_ ** _wouldn't_** _have turned against us._ "

Lucius sighed. "There's a good chance that she did." He came forwards. "And because of that, both you and Miss Gaunt are in grave danger."

Chloe suddenly stood. "Please excuse me, I need air." And with that she hurried out of the room.

Narcissa sighed and reached out to place her hand on Lucius' shoulder. "Maybe we shouldn't have told her. She's so hurt."

"She needs to know that betrayal can come from those closest to her." Lucius patted his wife's hand. "It's a lesson we all have to learn." He turned to say something to Draco.

Draco was already out of the room after the blonde.

He found her in the sun room, staring unseeingly at the flowers his mother tended to despite the fact that his father always told her to make the House Elves do it.

Chloe reached out and ran her fingers over the petals. "Lana wouldn't turn against us."

Shucking his hands into his pockets, Draco joined her side and eyed the flower with little interest. "She might have."

"You don't understand, if she did she'd be signing our death warrants!" Chloe turned to him and opened her mouth before her lips moved wordlessly and she growled and looked away.

Obviously the Fidelius Charm had kept whatever she'd been about to say silent.

Draco could see the anger, frustration and sadness on Chloe's face as she sighed and looked away from him, her shoulders slouched. He felt the anger and frustration just as much as she did, because what if Rosier  _had_  turned on them? He didn't know the chit and he didn't trust anyone, so in his mind she was already half-guilty of the crime. And if that meant that Chloe's life was in danger, then Rosier's betrayal infuriated him. Sure, Chloe was a pain in the ass, but she was  _his_  pain in the ass. No one had any business making her upset except  _him_.

She turned those greens towards him and sighed, their orbs connecting.

He hadn't even realized he'd shifted on his legimens ability until the first image hit him.

...

_Chloe sat on her bed, knees to her chest as she stared ahead of her in silence._

_Lois snored on the bed next to her, stretched out all hands and legs._

_There was a shuffle from the other bed and Lana slipped from the covers to sit next to Chloe. "How are you doing?"_

_"I can't perform magic. Not wand magic. Not any magic."_

_Lana sighed and placed her arm around Chloe's shoulders. "You_ **_can_ ** _perform magic. You healed us, remember?"_

_Chloe looked up at Lana, eyes filled with tears which her strong voice hadn't betrayed in the darkness. "We have mediwitches to heal, with proper spells. I-I get hurt whenever I heal! He doesn't want me using the ability on anyone! I'm-I'm useless!"_

_Lana's hazel gaze shifted over Chloe's features. "You're not useless, Chloe. Even if you'll never be able to do magic ever, you'll never be useless."_

_"You don't understand what this feels like, Lana. You're amazing with magic." Chloe lowered her head._

_"And even so I'm not his Favored, am I?" Lana raised an eyebrow. "Neither is Lois." She stared into Chloe's face. "You are."_

_Chloe shook her head. "I'm not-."_

_"You are and you know it." Lana gave her a small smile. "You're by far his Favored."_

_Chloe sighed and rested her chin on her knees. "You know why, though, Lana. And it has nothing to do with_ **_me_ ** _."_

_"Chloe," Lana squeezed her. "You're my favorite too, and that has_ **_everything_ ** _to do with you."_

_Chloe finally let her tears fall as she reached out and hugged Lana tightly._

_Lana stayed there with her and hugged her until the girl fell to sleep._

_..._

_"I can't believe I'm related to Harry Potter." Lana made up a face in disgust as she looked away from the tapestry which listed the genealogy of the families with the purest blood. "How could I share the same blood with someone like that? He's one of our greatest enemies!"_

_"No one holds it against you, Lan." Lois didn't stop punching a bag of what appeared to be sand, which levitated above her in the air._

_"He's that creep Dumbledore's right hand man!" Lana cried out as she threw herself onto the love seat across from the couch Chloe sat on. "They'd kill Chloe on the_ **_spot_ ** _if they knew about her."_

_Chloe finally looked up from her book, which was on the Dark Arts. "They'd kill us all if they knew."_

_"Yeah, but you're the most killable of the three of us!" Lana glared angrily, protectively._

_Lois turned away from the bag of sand. "We're worth just as much alive to them as dead."_

_"Can we stop talking about death?" Chloe tried._

_"To think that we lived for so long in Smallville and we didn't know about the price on our heads." Lana shivered. "If they knew why each of us had been born..." She hugged herself. "They're so terrifying." She bit her bottom lip. "I'm scared of going to study under Severus if he's going to be teaching at the time school is in session. It means I'll be in Hogwarts, with those lunatics." She gulped. "What if they kill me?"_

_"Severus wouldn't allow that." Lois looked completely sure. "He'd protect you."_

_"Aren't you guys scared?" Lana bit her bottom lip. "Who would you prefer to go study under? At least for the first semester?"_

_"I want Severus' to be last." Lois grinned brightly. "That way I can drag it out longer and torture him without worry."_

_Lana and Chloe shared grins before the blonde answered: "I'll pick Severus first if we're given the choice, okay?"_

_"Why?" Lana's eyes widened. "Won't you be scared?"_

_"I'd definitely be nervous, but I'd also be excited." Chloe grinned mischievously. "I'd get to see what normal wizard schooling is like, and how the educational system varies in structure from Smallville Hi-."_

_"She also wants to see Draco," Lois interrupted._

_Chloe glared at Lois. "I do not!"_

_Lana chuckled._

_"Do too," Lois snickered. "You're soft for him."_

_"I am not soft!" Chloe snapped._

_Lana laughed and reached out to place her hand on Chloe's. "It's okay to be soft, Chloe. I'm soft for Blaise..." Her smile melted into a frown. "Even though I'm not supposed to be." She then cleared her throat. "And Lois will rape Severus some day, so she really can't bring up Draco without being a hypocrite."_

_"There will be a_ **seduction** _, not a_ **rape** _." Lois rolled her eyes._

_Chloe stared at the two of them and chuckled as she shook her head._

_..._

_She awoke with a scream, her throat sore, her whole body inflamed as she shot up. She was in agony, disoriented. She couldn't remember what had happened. Lord Voldemort had taken her somewhere, he'd asked her to do something, and she remembered the shock and horror but couldn't remember exactly what had filled her with such aching disgust. Her memory was twisted and distorted and all she felt was this rising nausea and_ **_wrongness_ ** _that swelled inside of her._

_"You are awake."_

_She jumped and turned to see him standing on the other side of the bed. "What happened?" It hurt to speak, to form words._

_"You suddenly came down ill and despite the mediwitch tending to you your fever wouldn't break. You hallucinated for three days straight." He leaned over her, his cold hand on her forehead. "You are still somewhat feverish but it's going down."_

_Oh. It'd been a fever-induced nightmare. Of course-of_ **_course_ ** _it had been._

_She sighed. "I'm sorry for being such a pain."_

_"On the contrary," his voice was odd and his twisted smile in place as he kept his hand on her forehead, further cooling her down. He didn't explain what he meant by that, merely pulled away. "Lana and Lois have been taking shifts outside your door waiting for you to awaken. I will let whoever is outside know you are awake." With that he turned and left, a pleased expression on his face._

_Chloe watched him go in confusion as to what could've made him so pleased, but she didn't have long to wonder because suddenly Lana was in the room and on her bed. "We've been so worried about you!"_

_"I came down ill?" Chloe didn't mean it as a question._

_"Yes, it surprised us too since you're never ill!" Lana scooted closer. "Lois and I have been taking turns waiting to be let inside. She'll be peed that I'm the one who was here when you awoke." She reached out and placed her hand against Chloe's forehead. "You need to take better care of yourself, Chlo. The stress is getting to you."_

_"It must be." Chloe sighed and slumped in her pillow. "You know, I can't even remember the day I must've gotten ill."_

_"It's probably the potions the mediwitch has been pumping into you to fight the fever." Lana nibbled on her bottom lip. "Lay down and rest. I'm going to bring you all sorts of yummy things to eat." With that she smiled and hurried off of the bed._

_Chloe watched her and smiled._

...

"She wouldn't turn against us, Draco." Chloe's words brought him back to the present. "She  _wouldn't_."

Draco stared at the blonde and realized a couple of things:

1) Chloe still had no idea he used Legimens on her.

2) Whatever made Chloe and the other girls special and important to Voldemort, it was far more than just the "concubine" theory Draco had been working on.

3) In her last memory, Chloe hadn't realized something extremely important. She'd been staring at Voldemort's back. She hadn't noticed his reflection in the mirror like Draco had. If she had, she'd have shivered at the sinister grin on his face, which he wiped from his features a second before he opened the door to let Lana in.

It made Draco believe that her "hallucinations" might  **not**  have been fever-induced. Maybe, just maybe, the nightmare had actually happened and it was the reason for her sudden, unexplained illness.

But if that was so, it meant that whatever usefulness Chloe had to the Dark Lord, it must be like her healing ability in which she could heal, but she suffered consequences for it.

At that realization, Draco's fists clenched.

He'd seen enough of Rosier in Chloe's memories to grudgingly agree that if it meant Chloe's death, he doubted the other girl would go turncoat and join the Order. Unless...

His mother had said that Rosier had been making "unsettling" and "questionable" inquiries. What if she'd gotten suspicious? What if she'd found out something? Something which had forced her hand and led her to killing Bellatrix (which was a feat in itself) and escaping?

And if that were so, if that was what was happening, Draco needed to find her before the others did.

He sighed and looked away, realizing with great reluctance that he was going to have to pay Blaise Zabini a visit.

"I will humor your faith in her," was all he said for now, giving the girl that much at least.

"Thank you." She breathed in deeply, seemingly surprisingly grateful for that. The blonde licked her lips before raising her gaze to meet his. "I wanted to say goodbye to you before leaving Hogwarts that night, but Severus wouldn't let me."

It surprised him how much he'd needed to hear that. He'd been miffed that she had used and then discarded him without a by-your-leave, and the confirmation that it hadn't been her choice to do so was…  _gratifying_. "Because of you I got attacked by Parkinson without  _any_  warning."

Her lips twitched in amusement. "I apologize for the sullying of your virtue."

He snickered and found himself standing closer to her, staring down at her face. While he'd never admit to it, he'd grown quickly bored and restless once she'd departed from Hogwarts. There'd been no witty banter, no sarcastic sparring, no one even close to as acerbic as him. She was a pain in his arse, but she kept him entertained. Had he known she'd be spending her time at his home he'd have been more anxious and impatient the rest of the school year waiting for holidays to finally arrive. Clearly he was starving for half-decent company.

"I kind of miss being in Hogwarts," Chloe admitted softly as her gaze lowered to her hands. "Sure, it was terrifying, and having to go through the whole thing without being able to use a wand was - well - but it was also very fun."

"You found  _school_  fun?" He didn't even  _have_  to try and sound utterly flummoxed.

"Yes," she replied immediately as her gaze rose to meet his. "The company wasn't half bad either."

He couldn't stop the smirk that tilted his lips. "Yes, well, I  _am_ —."

"I mean  _Daphne_  and  _Millicent_ ," she interrupted with a teasing smile before walking away from him, her gown's skirt swishing with her movement.

Draco watched her go, his smirk widening before he took off after her.

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Draco didn't know exactly how long Chloe had been with his parents, but it seemed as if she'd been there forever. She was calm, poised, and had learnt that slightly arrogant tilt of the lips which the Malfoys were known for. It was obvious that despite the fact that the news of Lana's possible betrayal had her hurt and distracted, Chloe applied herself to her lessons with his mother and father and they relished it. Apparently Gaunt had been quite the terror as a student, and his parents were just so horribly relieved that this time the person they were instructing actually  _wanted_  to learn what they had to teach.

"Why is she balancing books on her head?" Draco asked his father as he watched Chloe striding across the room with a pile of them wobbling on her head.

Lucius sighed. "Well, since she and Lois constantly referred to this muggle practice your mother and I were curious as to why it would be employed." He shrugged. "It is entertaining to watch and seems to satisfy their expectation of what should be included in these lessons."

"Muggles walk around with books on their heads?" Draco blinked in shock.

"They are such  _odd_  creatures, are they not?" Lucius shook his head.

Draco turned his icy-silvers on Chloe, who'd reached his mother and grinned at not having dropped a book.

Narcissa tried to look stern and yet Draco could tell his mother was fond of the girl.

The realization made him smirk. Exactly  _how terrible_  had Gaunt been to make his mother fond of someone who wasn't her own flesh and blood?

Lucius cleared his throat, clearly fighting a grin. "She has taken to Pureblood etiquette like a natural. I, of course, conveyed this to our Lord and he has instructed that she be taught further than I had planned."

"How so?" Draco tried not to sound too interested.

"I do not dare pretend to know his mind, but he has ordered Narcissa to instruct her on the ways a Pureblood lady manages her household as well as assists in the day to day affairs of her husband." Lucius raised his chin. "While he had not said so in so many words, I believe Our Lord plans on securing a match between Chloe and someone he is courting for our cause."

"He's going to sell her off?" Draco turned to look at his father and did his best not to flinch at the steel in his own words.

Lucius' eyes narrowed, his previous smile completely gone in two seconds flat. "We  _all_  do whatever we can to further his cause. Chloe understands and accepts that, Draco. It would be in your best interest if you did as well."

A muscle jumped in his cheek as Draco looked away and turned his stormy eyes on Chloe, who had taken the books off of her head and was in the process of fixing her hair. The Dark Lord was having Draco's parents prepare her to be married off to someone who was on the fence about what side they were on in the war. She was being groomed to be used as  _bait_ , as nothing more than a lure to attract whoever it was that the Dark Lord wished for as an ally.

Suddenly all her improvement left a bitter taste in his mouth as he clenched his fists.

"Do not do anything that will damage your already fragile standing." His father apparently didn't know when to shut up. "We have done all we can to help raise you back up from the depths you've fallen, so do not make all of our efforts be in vain."

"And how, pray tell, could I manage to do something like that?"

"The same way you fell originally." Lucius shifted his cane so that it pointed discreetly ahead of them. " _Her_."

That muscle ticked harder in Draco's cheek. "What are you insinuating, father?"

"I am not  _blind_ , boy." Lucius' voice hissed. "Neither is  _he_."

Draco clenched his fists so hard it hurt. "Is this a warning from you... or from  _him?_ "

"Is it true?" Chloe moved towards them, her gown swishing as she reached their side, eyes wide. She apparently had no idea that she'd just interrupted a highly tense moment between father and son, her grin large and silly.

Lucius smiled at her, far from the scowl he'd given his own son. "I see Narcissa has told you."

"It's  _true_?" Chloe grinned brightly, her glossed lips curved as she reached for his hand and squeezed it. "I'm so excited!" Her face suddenly fell for a second in concern. "Would it not be disrespectful to Bellatrix's memory?"

"Bellatrix would understand." Lucius patted the top of her hand. "Also, we must do so to make sure that no one questions our 'loyalties'. If we stayed home and grieved they would term us at least sympathetic towards Death Eaters, and we cannot give the Order more chance to harass us." He smiled at Chloe. "So you must enjoy yourself to the fullest tonight."

She smiled softly with a small dip of her head. "I will."

"What are you two talking about?" Draco's eyes narrowed, completely out of the loop and not liking it one bit.

"I'm going to a ball. Tonight." Chloe turned to him immediately, far too excited for something like a  _ball_. "An actual  _ball_. Like in the fairy tales!"

Draco, who had grown up attending balls, didn't see the appeal. They were utterly boring. "Is  _that_  what has you so excited? A bloody  _ball_?"

" _Draco,"_ his mother scolded.

"Yes!" Chloe didn't even seem to notice his attitude. "I've never been to one before."

Draco snorted. "Are you daft? Of course you have."

" _Draco_!" Both of his parents hissed.

"You don't not  _talk_  to a lady that way!" His mother cried out.

Chloe rolled her eyes at him, lips curved in a smirk. "The Death Eater banquet wasn't a  _ball_. And anyway, I had to leave early because I was in pain." Her smirk turned to a grin. "I'll actually be attending as myself, and I'll be able to wear a pretty dress and watch the couples dancing-."

"I should hope you'd be able to dance as well, with the lessons you've been having," his mother declared.

Chloe turned to her, looking terrified. "I couldn't possibly! I'm still not good enough! I'll step on someone's toes!"

"Nonsense," his mother chided softly. "You'll do just fine."

"And even if you did break someone's toes there are always spells to fix that," Lucius declared magnanimously.

" _Break_?" Chloe cried out in horror, her voice little more than a squeak as she paled at the very thought.

" _Lucius_." Narcissa glared at her husband, her eyes narrowed and her eyebrows nearly touching in her displeasure.

"I was trying in encourage her." Lucius flinched and fiddled with his cane in a clear betrayal of his unease.

" _Break!_ " Chloe breathed in and out before she turned to Narcissa, eyes incredibly wide. "Is that even  _possible_?"

Narcissa shook her head.

Lucius nodded his head.

Narcissa elbowed her husband in his ribs.

Lucius quickly changed so that he shook his head.

Chloe, of course, saw through that and went even paler than before. "I'm going to break someone's toes."

Narcissa sent Lucius a look which promised him he'd hear more about this from her later on.

Lucius looked pained.

While he usually would enjoy the blonde's uncharacteristic meltdown, Draco reached out, grabbed Chloe's arm and twirled the surprised (and squeaking) girl in towards him. "Of course you'll break someone's toe." He pulled her in closer and smirked down at her in a very superior fashion. "You're a klutz."

"Draco!" His mother cried.

"You gave me no sort of warning!" Chloe glared at him and slapped his chest, clearly annoyed and not close to a meltdown like she had been seconds before.

"Warning." Draco then twirled her out and back again, the girl hitting his chest on her way back, visibly dizzy. "Nope. You're still bad at this."

Chloe's greens narrowed as she grabbed him by his shirt and began to yank him towards the ballroom. "Oh, I'll show you."

Draco tried to hold his grin but was unable to as he allowed himself to be dragged to the ballroom. He'd figured annoying Chloe would break her out of the terror she'd momentarily allowed herself to fall into, but he hadn't counted on her competitive nature to kick in this strongly. This was more amusing than he could've hoped for!

The House Elves quickly started music as the two reached the middle and Chloe held her arms out expectantly. Draco paused and fixed her posture before he reached for her hands, pulled her in a little closer, and then eased the both of them into the dance. This was the first time they'd danced together, and she was clearly unsure of herself. The look in those green eyes betrayed that she was desperate to gaze down at her feet as he moved her through the moves, but she was too proud to look away from him, refusing to show any bit of weakness. Her defiant, challenging spirit was one of the things he liked about her.

He flinched when she stepped on his toe during a spin.

Her eyes widened and she tried to stop. "I am so-!"

He refused to let her stop and forced her to continue with the spin, even though her disorientation had her stepping on his other foot. "Calm. Down. You. Bloody. Woman."

"Don't call me a bloody woman!" She snapped yet didn't step on him.

"That's what you are, is it not?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "Or are you packing something down below there that might surprise me?"

She flushed hotly as the antique comb keeping her hair up slipped off, causing her blonde locks to cascade around her. "That is none of your business."

He grinned and drew her in against him. "Everything seems perfect down here."

Her face was fiery hot. "How dare-?"

Draco snickered as he twirled her out and then back into his arms once more, this time the movement was fluid and she didn't hit him on her way back. "Have you realized it yet?"

Her fury was still there, only tampered by her curiosity. "Realized what yet?"

Draco didn't answer, he merely maneuvered them through some complicated moves while smirking down into her face.

"Draco Malfoy!" She glared at him when he eased her into a sweeping dip and then straightened her back up again. "Realized  _what_?"

She really was like a dog with a bone.

He smirked into her face as they stood still. "As long as I keep you angry, you dance like a dream."

Chloe's eyes widened and then she looked down at her feet, as if unable to believe it, but it was true. The realization clearly blossomed on her face as she chuckled, shaking her face, the hands that had been on his shoulders trailed down his arms with one somehow ending up holding his hand. "You evil little snake," she muttered softly, yet the tone was oddly tender and did something odd to his stomach.

His grip tightened around her hand, his smile suddenly less amused, less prominent, as his gaze met hers and his voice lowered. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Someone cleared his throat behind them. Draco frowned as Chloe pulled away quickly and put a huge amount of distance between them, as if he'd suddenly caught on fire.

She flushed and wouldn't even look in his direction. "I am thirsty. Are you thirsty? No? Okay. I think I will get something to drink."

"Darling," his mother stopped Chloe, who'd been on her way out of the room. "That is why we have House Elves."

Chloe frowned slightly. "But I can-." She faltered at the older woman's look. "Of course. Sorry." She turned to one of the House Elves who'd been playing music for them. "Trixie? I'm sorry to ask, but could you please bring me some water?"

"Of course Mistress," Trixie declared before she disappeared with a  _plop_  and reappeared with a glass.

"Thank you, Trix, what would I do without you?" Chloe smiled at the House Elf and then took a sip.

"You're welcome, Mistr. Trixie is always so happy to help you." Trixie beamed up at her before she returned to the others.

Lucius sniffed. "You don't have to be  _nice_  to them. They're here to do as told."

Chloe took a deep gulp, and from the glint in her eyes Draco could tell it was hard for her to keep from saying something to Lucius that he wouldn't like hearing.

Amused, Draco watched it all.

His mother turned to him, clearly not as invested in Chloe's relationship with the House Elves as her husband was. "You will come to the ball as well, Draco, as Chloe's escort." She suddenly frowned as she ran her hands over the wrinkles only she seemed able to see in her evening gown. "There will be others around, not just...  _our kind_... and while we have a cover story for who she is-."

"What's the cover story?" Draco wasn't one to interrupt his mother, not usually.

Narcissa raised an eyebrow at him. "She is a distant cousin, from your father's side." She motioned regally in Chloe's direction. "It will not be hard to believe considering that Lucius has family abroad, and she  _does_  have the Malfoy coloring." She smirked. "She truly looks like she is a Malfoy."

Draco flinched. "Her? A Malfoy?"

Chloe glared, clearly warning him to choose his next words wisely. "What of it?"

"Nothing..." he shrugged. "I just don't understand why you can't be a distant cousin from mother's side... You  _are_  a Black for Salazaar's sake."

"That is exactly why we will say she is related through Lucius," his mother declared patiently before she turned to Chloe. "Come, we must get ready. I have had a lovely ballgown readied for you."

Chloe's eyes widened, and with a little grin she curtsied to Lucius and Draco before accepting the arm Narcissa held for her, whispering excitedly with the older woman as they made their way out of the room.

Lucius watched them go, a surprisingly fond expression on his face. "Your mother always wanted a daughter." He took in a deep breath. "When you marry, Draco, make sure it is to a girl who makes your mother smile like a schoolgirl, as she is doing now."

Draco merely eyed his father and didn't comment.

...

Blaise Zabini's reply to the message he'd sent to him via owl arrived while Draco was waiting for the ladies to finish readying themselves. The boy had agreed to a meeting with Draco at the ball, which he was forced to attend as well to "prove" no ties to the Dark Lord or his forces. They'd find a moment to slip away and Draco would bring Zabini into his confidence, not because he necessarily wanted to, but because he (unfortunately) couldn't handle this alone. Also, if there was anyone who might help him find Rosier it was Zabini, who seemed ridiculously obsessed with her for some unfathomable reason.

Draco had been wondering how to slip away without drawing attention to themselves, when his mother and Chloe appeared. While his father greeted them both with praises and kisses to the cheek, Draco was floored. If he'd thought Chloe looked like a Pureblood lady before... it was magnified at this moment to a stunning degree. She wore a gown of Slytherin green and some of his mother's jewelry. Her hair was up and had been curled so that strands fell down into her face.

She was gorgeous. But that wasn't what came out of his mouth. "You can't possibly expect to bloody go looking like that!"

"Draco Malfoy, what has happened to your manners?" Narcissa snapped, looking a mixture of horrified and disappointed in him. It felt as if she'd chastised him more today than she had during his whole childhood.

Chloe's smile melted slightly as she glanced down at herself, running her hands over the material of her dress self-consciously. "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing my dear," Lucius assured her very quickly. "I do not understand what is wrong with my ill-mannered son, but you look lovely."

Draco took a step towards her, his voice tinged with accusation as he turned his attention on his parents. "I thought the idea was to help her blend in with everyone! Not make her stand out!"

Chloe blinked and looked down at her gown once more, head tilted slightly. "I doubt that I'll-."

"Oh please, you'll be the most beautiful girl there," Draco accused, voice hissed, incredibly unhappy with this. "Everyone's eyes will be on you."

Chloe looked up at him in shock, a hint of color on her cheeks before she cleared her throat and looked away. "Well, just deal with it, Malfoy. I'm going just the way I am." Her lips curled in a smile which she was clearly trying to fight against unsuccessfully.

Draco couldn't see what there was to smile about. He turned to his mother to ask her to see reason, yet paused when he noticed the odd expression on her face. The Malfoy heir shook his head and pressed onwards. "Mother. Surely you have something else that she can change into? Every eye will be on her tonight." He cleared his throat and tried to be practical. "How am I supposed to be a proper escort and protect her if I have to battle a horde of randy imbeciles just to keep her by my side?"

His mother raised a hand to her heart as she continued to stare at him, her lips parting and eyes widening.

His father, on the other hand, lifted his chin. "She is  _expected_  to mingle, so that will not be a problem."

And that was when it hit Draco why exactly they were going to this ball. Not only were they going there to keep up the farce that they were not sympathetic towards the Dark Lord's cause, but because the person Lord Voldemort wanted to throw Chloe at would in attendance. This evening had been planned to bring Chloe to this person's attention, to begin the swaying. Draco's gaze turned to Chloe and wondered just how aware she was of the plots around her. Considering how blindly loyal she was to the Dark Lord she probably knew and was more than willing to marry whoever it was. Hadn't she already told Draco that Lord Voldemort would choose her husband for her? She'd seemed to accept it then, why not now?

Something clenched in his stomach and it clouded his expression the whole way to the ball. While Chloe's face lit at the grandeur and pomp, Draco scowled as she clung to his arm. As they were introduced (after his parents) and every eye turned to see who "Miss Chloe Malfoy" was, Draco scowled darkly at everyone and wondered which of those eyes belonged to the man they were using Chloe to bring to the dark side. And yes, he knew it was the dark side. He'd always known, most Slytherins knew, it was just that most, if not all, of them had never really been given a chance to choose a side, their paths having been decided upon their births. And once the Sorting Hat yelled out SLYTHERIN they were treated like evil cockroaches immediately by the other houses, so really, what other option did they have but to embrace the only other people who actually accepted and wanted them?

"Come on, Draco, this is a party, not a funeral," Chloe whispered into his ear as he walked her around the room, greeting people and giving the 'she's my cousin from America' story.

"I've been to hundreds of these things. They're not the fairy tale events you seem to believe they are." He knew he was being short tempered, but he couldn't help it. He was really pissed right now. Especially with her.

"Miss...  _Malfoy_ ," a voice declared behind them, and they turned to see Theodore Nott. "You look... 'lovely' just doesn't cover it."

She smiled when she saw him. "Theo!"

Draco tightened his grip on her arm. "Nott."

Theodore sent him a stiff nod before he extended a hand towards Chloe. "May I have a dance?"

Her eyes widened comically. "I'll step on your feet."

Theodore smiled. "I'll survive."

She grinned and moved to go with Nott when she realized just how tight Draco's grip was on her. Her gaze went to him curiously.

Draco wanted to tell her that she had to stay with him, but he saw Zabini to the left and reluctantly let her go.

Giving him a small smile, Chloe placed her hand in Nott's and allowed him to take her out onto the dance floor.

That dark scowl darkened on Draco's face as he watched them both chuckle at some joke Nott whispered in her ear. Their movements together were easy, comfortable. Obviously during that mystery mission they'd gone on together they'd grown close.

Draco tightened his hands into fists.

"Careful, Malfoy." Zabini arrived at his side, gaze on Chloe. "You look like you actually care about someone other than yourself."

"Shove it, Zabini." Draco was in no mood for Zabini's barbs. "You are just jealous that I came to the ball with her while you're... alone."

Zabini glared. "You're the one who called me here, don't forget that."

"We can't talk about it here." And yet he didn't want to slip away, didn't want to leave Chloe with Nott. With anyone. Still, he had to.

It was with a glare thrown over his shoulder at the two dancing that Draco escaped into a darkened room with Zabini, casting a Silencing Spell as well as one that inhibited the reading of lips.

Zabini raised an eyebrow. "You're very paranoid tonight."

"Lana Rosier murdered Bellatrix." That announcement had the intended effect, and he spoke through Blaise' horrified silence. "It isn't exactly  _proven_ , but everything points to it."

"Is she okay?" Zabini's voice was soft yet determined. "Does  _he_  have her?"

"No." Draco shook his head. "Like I said, there's no actual proof. All that's been proven is that Bellatrix was killed, and Rosier has gone missing. Normally they'd believe her captured, but her behavior leading up to the attack led Bellatrix to report that she believed the girl had been 'corrupted' in Hogwarts."

Zabini's eyes narrowed. "How sure are you that what you've been told is the truth and that  _he_  doesn't have her somewhere torturing her?"

"That's not an entirely unfounded question, but from the vibe I got from father, they are searching for her." Draco moved closer. "Do you have any idea where she might be?"

Those eyes narrowed further. "Why would I tell you even if I did?" They took on a dangerous light. "You don't care about her. For all I know you'll give her up to your father."

"You're right, I don't bloody give a rat's arse about that girl. Rosier. Potter. Whatever she is she's a nuisance to me." A muscle jumped in Draco's cheek. "But something is not right here. I hate to say this, but I doubt that she would turn against us if it meant hurting Chloe-unless..." He took in a deep breath. "Something is not right."

Zabini narrowed his eyes. "Not right  _how_?"

"There was a memory of Chloe's that-well-," he hated having to reveal this! "I believe the Dark Lord used her for some horrific purpose and then wiped her memory of the event. The ordeal left her sick for days. Not even a mediwitch could heal her."

It said something about what Zabini thought of him that the other Slytherin didn't even comment on the fact that Draco had delved into Chloe's mind. Instead he chose to focus on a more important question. "Did you get a feeling for what it could've been? It must have been very traumatic if it left her physically ill even  _after_  he removed the memory from her mind."

"No, all I know is that it horrified her, shook her to her very core." A muscle jumped in Draco's chest, remembering that twisted face that he'd seen for a second, yet not able to understand what exactly that had been. For now, until he had more information, he'd keep that little bit to himself. "I don't care about Rosier, but if she gets caught by the Order they'll find out about Chloe and she will not be safe." He took in a deep breath, hating that he had to be the one to do this, to offer an alliance with Zabini after refusing that same offer over and over again in the past. "But I do not believe Chloe will be safe with Rosier in  _his_  hands either."

Zabini eyed him in silence before he let out a breath, not a bit of amusement or teasing on his face. "You really do care about her, Greengrass I mean."

Draco looked away, highly uncomfortable. "She's tolerable." She was also annoying as hell though, especially when she went along with stupid schemes like the one being played out tonight. Honestly, did she even really deserve his help?

A snort escaped Zabini's lips as he took in a deep breath. "If I help you, I need your word that you will not harm Lana or reveal her location to anyone."

"Zabini, I'd expect no less from you." Draco pulled out his wand, having expected there to be terms, he wouldn't have trusted or respected the other Slytherin otherwise. "We will find Lana Rosier, and we will find out what she knows."

"And we'll keep her safe and hidden from  _both_  the Order and  _him_." Zabini placed his hand in Draco's and pointed his own wand at their joined hands.

Magic glowed at the ends of Zabini's and Malfoy's wands as they swore their oath.


	3. Chapter 3

...

With business taken care of, Draco and Zabini parted ways as they returned to the ball. His gaze searched for Chloe on the dance floor and froze when he saw that instead of Theodore Nott, her dance partner was none-other than Harry bloody Potter. Just how the devil had  _that_  happened? What was Potter doing here in the first place? Had someone dug low into the dredges and invited the Weasleys of all people? And, most importantly of all, how could Draco cut in without it looking suspicious?

Chloe sent Harry a very shaky and uneasy smile yet seemed to genuinely be listening to whatever it was that he was saying. Her features were pinched slightly, almost as if she was in pain but trying not to show it. No one else would notice it, not if they didn't know her, but Draco could tell the signs of pain and he clenched his fists. What was Potthead doing? Draco moved to cut in, no matter how much attention that would draw, when the sound of Chloe's laughter rung through the crowd, stopping him in his tracks. No one looked more surprised than her at the fact that she'd laughed.

Draco frowned and pulled back. If Chloe had laughed then he doubted that Potter was actually hurting her. That meant Draco had to stay where he was and not intrude no matter how much he wanted to. It would do more harm than good to draw attention to them by cutting in. It could make people wonder why he was so protective and why he didn't want her around Potter. Those were two questions no one needed to ask themselves.

Potter tilted his head, his glasses slipping to the tip of his nose, almost falling off, and since he was distracted he visibly faltered during their dance, falling into her slightly. Chloe quickly leaned away and used the distance to push Harry's glasses back up the bridge of his nose with her gloved hand, which was visibly shaking even from this distance, the girl making sure just to touch the glasses and not the boy himself. Potthead smiled and said something with a sheepish expression on his face as he rightened himself, and while Chloe smiled back at him she was very obviously paler and paler the longer she remained in his company.

Honestly, it seemed the dance would never end! Draco was forced to stand on the sidelines, watching Chloe's gloved hand remain in Potter's (the other resting on his shoulder and his around her waist) as they continued to dance. At one point they both oddly flinched at the same exact time and looked away from each other, their faces scrunched, before they cleared their throats and returned their attention to each other, both visibly trying to pretend that nothing had happened to them.

Just what the hell was going on there? Was  _Potter_  in pain too? If so, just what was happening that the  _both_  of them were apparently in pain?

Draco searched the crowds quickly for his parents ( _they_  had to do something about this!) and found them eyeing the pair with the same intensity he was. Lucius stood incredibly still but his white-knuckled hold on his cane betrayed his unease with the situation. Narcissa was better at playing the situation off as unimportant, yet her grip was tight on Lucius' arm, whether it was for comfort or to stop him from going to the pair wasn't easily discernible.

On the dance floor Chloe's nerves clearly got the better of her and she stumbled, yet this time Potter was the one who rescued her, using the grip he had around her waist to pull her much closer to him and thus keep her from tripping to the ground. It saved her from a fall, yet brought them sickeningly close. Chloe was paler than Draco had ever seen her as she stared up, wide-eyed at Potter, her hand trembling so hard the one Potter was using to hold said hand visibly shook slightly as well.

Lucius turned immediately upon seeing this and whispered something into his wife's ear, his face obscured by her hair.

Narcissa, for her part, merely kept her gaze focused on the twosome and patted Lucius' arm.

Draco's eyes narrowed on his parents, realizing they had no plans on stepping in, which meant he couldn't either. He was forced to return his gaze to the dance floor and watch Potter and Chloe, reminding himself over and over again that him going over there and drawing attention to them would be very dangerous. The only thing he could do now was wait, and be ready.

When the dance finally ended Chloe and Potter pulled away from each other. Chloe looked down almost immediately, breathing a little more rapidly than she should be as she gripped her arm tightly, clearly betraying a subconscious desire to protect herself. Potter just eyed her slowly, his gaze shifting from her body's posture to the way she wouldn't meet his eyes while they spoke. Even from this distance, and slightly obscured by his glasses, Potter's eyes were intensely intrigued and focused solely on her.

Clearly Draco wasn't the only one with unspoken questions regarding the shivering blonde girl. That was dangerous. Very dangerous. Time to break up whatever was going on and take her as far away from Potter as possible.

Draco started towards them to reclaim the girl when suddenly someone blocked his path and view of them.

"Draykie." Pansy Parkinson had been a thorn in their side since their 'breakup', especially since she truly believed that they  _had_  been going out. Damn memory spells! He didn't have time for her in Hogwarts and he sure as hell didn't have time for her now. "You look handsome."

He tried to move pass her.

She moved with him and blocked his way once more. "Aren't you going to tell  _me_  I look lovely?"

"But I don't bloody think you do." He growled when she moved once more the same time he did and blocked his path. "What the hell do you want, Parkinson?"

"Who is she?" Pansy glanced over her shoulder in time to reveal Chloe blushing up at Viktor Krum as they talked together by the punch bowl. Apparently she'd managed to get away from Potter yet had now been cornered by the huge Bulgarian. "I remember her from that get together so I know 'who' she is... but who is she to  _you_?"

Draco frowned, ignoring Pansy as he fixed his gaze upon what was happening by the punch bowl. What was Viktor Krum doing here? And why the hell was Chloe blushing? What had the filthy Bulgarian said or done? He turned his gaze towards his parents and then frowned when he found them whispering to each other with smiles on their faces. Why-? It hit Draco and he took a step backwards. Viktor Krum. It was Viktor bleeding Krum.  _That_  was who they were throwing Chloe at! And from the looks of it she wasn't minding it in the least bit!

" _Draykie_." Pansy's eyes narrowed and her voice turned to a hiss. "Who  _is_  she?"

Draco turned his furious silvery gaze on the girl. "That is none of your concern."

She sniffed. "It is every bit my concern!" Her chin raised high. "We were good together, and I know that you felt something for me too. Everyone says it." There was pride in her eyes. "So I am not going to let some cheap-."

He moved towards her, his voice calm yet eyes deadly. "Do not  _dare_  finish that sentence."

For the first time ever he saw true fear in Pansy's eyes.

"Is everything alright here?" Chloe's voice broke into the tension.

Draco turned to lash out on her but stopped when he realized she hadn't come alone. She was on the arm of Viktor friggin Krum. The oafish dope himself. "Krum."

"Malfoy." Viktor nodded an acknowledgment to his presence. They'd met each other during the Tri-Wizard tournament, and while Draco might have felt a little star struck at the time, that feeling had long since passed. "Your cousin vas telling me that she is staying vith you over the holiday break." His accent was still thick as ever, but at least his pronunciation had improved.

Pansy's eyes widened. " _Cousin_?"

"Hello Pansy." Chloe smiled at her, looking disgustingly comfortable and at home with her arm curled around Viktor's, a stark comparison to her barely contained terror while with Potter.

Pansy blinked, clearly trying to gather her wits to her. "I recognize you from... uh...  _that_  night." She was obviously referring to the night she and the others had accepted the Dark Mark. "But I did not know that you were related to Draykie."

"Draykie..." Chloe looked evilly amused at the disgusting pet name she too had used while pretending to be Pansy in Hogwarts. "Yes, well, once you're truly a Pureblood you're basically related to  _everyone."_

"True," Pansy admitted, seeming more relaxed now. "It does seem like the less families you are related to, the less pure your blood is." She then smiled. "So you are Draykie's  _cousin_."

"Doesn't it show?" Chloe motioned between her and Draco. "We're basically twins."

He was barely holding onto his rage at this moment, but knew his face was calm and fashioned into boredom. "I wouldn't go  _that_  far,  _cousin_."

"What were you doing dancing with  _Potter_?" Pansy made up her face. She never knew her place, or what was or was not her business. This was yet another case of her sticking her pug-nose where it didn't belong, but for once Draco wanted to know the exact same thing as the dark-haired busy-body.

"That is a very good question." Draco turned his gaze on the other blonde, unable to understand how she'd gone from dancing with Nott to dancing with Potter. How had Nott allowed it to happen in the first place? And what could've been the overlap? Potter and Nott were not friends, but considering Chloe's reactions to Potter during their dance  _she_  clearly had not been the one to approach  _him_. That meant that Potter must've been the one to approach her after her dance with Nott had ended, and like Draco, Nott had realized it would merely draw too much attention to make a fuss over it.

But why in the world would Potter venture out of his comfort zone (aka surrounded by Weasleys) and approach two Purebloods like that for a dance? Especially when Draco had heard all about Potter's many disastrous encounters with different females around him, and dances in general. Hell, the ball during the Tri-Wizard tournament alone was enough to prove how crap Potter was when it came to both girls and dances!

So why approach Chloe? Why single her out?

And while amongst so many people in this incredibly large ballroom, how had he even noticed she'd been there?

Those questions made Draco more and more uneasy.

"I like Harry." Viktor apparently thought they cared. "I am good friends vith his best friend, Herm-own-ninny."

Pansy snorted, amused with his mispronunciation of Mudblood Granger's already hard to pronounce name.

Chloe, on the other hand, smiled up at Viktor as if he were an adorable kitten. "I admit that I really don't know much about him. Or her." She leaned in closer, voice lower, as if sharing an embarrassing secret. "All I know about them are the rumors, and there are too many and too vastly different rumors floating out there to really know what to believe."

Viktor smiled down at her and placed his hand over the one she had curled around his arm. "I vill do my best to dispel any rumors so that you know only the truth about them."

She smiled brighter as she leaned in even closer, displaying an angelic aura which seemed to be fooling everyone but Draco. "I'd like that."

Draco was  _really_  close to losing it.

"Mister Krum." Ah, was it surprising his father had suddenly appeared? "What a delight to finally meet you. My son told me all about your stay at Hogwarts during the Tri-Wizard Tournament." His face fell. "It is horrible what happened to poor young Mister Diggory." He brought his cane to his chest as emotion crossed his face. "So many deaths in such a  _pointless_  war."

Draco had known his father could act, but he was definitely trying for a prize right now with this performance.

"It is true." Krum nodded, face grim, the bumbling buffoon falling for his father's acting hook, line, and sinker. Honestly, why would the Dark Lord want this idiot so much as to throw Chloe at him? All he could do was play Quidditch halfway decently. There was no reason why he should be so sought after by the dark side, especially given his friendship with Mudblood Granger. There was absolutely no use for Krum, at least not to Draco. He hadn't even won the damned Tri-Wizard Tournament! Not even  _close_! What the hell good could  _he_  be?

"It's why I am just happy to see that, despite all the ugliness out there in the world, there is still enough happiness and joy for young love to blossom." Okay, Lucius seriously was pushing it there. "I look at you two young couples, and I see hope for the future."

Draco was about to punch his father, damn the consequences.

"We  _are_  good looking couples, aren't we?" Pansy agreed as she grabbed onto Draco's arm like some sort of hellish amalgamation of a pug and a leech. While Draco usually applauded tenacity her clueless, pushy, clingy nature was really starting to grate on him more than usual. He did  _not_  have the patience to deal with her shite this early into the evening.

The only reason he didn't fling her off was because of the punishment he'd receive for scandalous behavior in public. Malfoys could be scandalous as hell, but not while they were in the public eye. The second they got somewhere private though, if she hadn't let go of him by then, he would not be held responsible for whatever he did to get her off of him.

"Yes." Lucius smiled at her before his gaze shifted to Viktor, giving off just as angelic an aura as Chloe had moments before. "Will you be in England long?"

"Da, I have... business that needs tending to here." Krum nodded, clearly clueless to the machinations going on all around him.

"Then you must visit us at Malfoy Manor one of these days, regale us with stories of your victories." Lucius was really piling on the kiss-ass right now.

"Yes, you must." Chloe smiled up at Krum as she squeezed his arm much like Pansy had Draco, her lips curved in a shy smile as she peeked up at him through her eyelashes. "We could take a turn around the garden." She bit her bottom lip and lowered her head. "I'd love to continue our conversation from before."

Krum smiled down at her like some idiotic freak and then turned to Lucius. "I vill call upon you sometime vithin the veek if that is acceptable."

There was a glisten behind Lucius' eyes as he smiled. "Acceptable indeed."

Viktor bowed his head slightly before he turned his gaze on Chloe, patting the arm she had curled around his with the finesse of a rhinosarus. "Vould you honor me with this dance?"

Chloe blushed and opened her mouth to no-doubt accept the oaf's offer.

"Oh, I don't know if you want to do that, mate," Draco drawled, drawing their attention to him. "She's a nightmare on the dance floor. Never seen a klutzier person in my life. Nearly broke my toes she did."

Chloe's mouth fell open in horrified embarrassment.

Pansy snickered.

" _Draco_." His father hissed. "That is no way to talk about your cousin."

"I do not fear such tiny feet." Viktor's gaze was on Draco before he turned to smile down wide and toothily at Chloe. "I dodge Bludgers for living, da? I am not most graceful either." He blushed slightly as he leaned a little closer to Chloe, managing to loom over her due to how much larger his stature was compared to hers. "In fact, I might step on  _your_  toes."

Chloe smiled up at Viktor, amusement visible on every feature as she assured him: "I'll forgive you if you do."

Draco was going to vomit. Or punch Viktor Krum. Whichever came first.

Viktor smiled and, with a nod to them, escorted the blonde out onto the dance floor.

"Lookie lookie." Pansy eyed them with growing intrigue. "We'll steal Krum away from Mudblood Granger yet."

"That's rather presumptuous." And yet Lucius went to stand next to Pansy, his gaze on the couple as they bowed to each other and then began to dance. "He  _does_  seem captivated by her."

"Malfoys tend to do that," Pansy assured him.

Lucius' lips tilted at the compliment. "We do."

Draco ignored them, his gaze on Chloe and Viktor as they danced, as they stumbled, laughed, and then continued to dance. The dance turned into another, and another, and Draco grew less and less tolerant of the conversation Pansy and his father were having. The two of them were already marrying the dancers off, and trying to decide whether the children would take after the mother or father. When Chloe nearly tripped and Viktor caught her, bringing her close, Draco couldn't take it anymore. He started to head to the dance floor to separate those two, but his father reached out and grabbed his arm, hissing for him to remain where he was. He was about to yank his arm away when Potter and Granger arrived to talk to Viktor and Chloe. The blonde visibly leaned into the Quidditch player, nervous, but played her part as she laughed and spoke to both Gryffindors.

Draco didn't move from his corner the rest of the night, eyes narrowed on the blonde, anger simmering.

He'd stormed to his room the moment they'd gotten home like some spoilt child but if he had to hear everyone singing Viktor Krum's praises any longer he'd slit his wrists. He paced his floor like a caged lion, furious and betrayed and… and not so sure why he felt this way. Even in his rage he realized that he had no real reason for how he felt. Why should he care if Chloe was going to be bartered off to Viktor Krum? It wasn't as if  _she_  cared! Hell, she was all for it if her actions were anything to go by! And that pissed him off! Seriously pissed him off! How could she be so cavalier about this whole thing? How could she let that stupid Quidditch player put his hands all over her? She wasn't Viktor's to touch! No matter  _what_  the Dark Lord thought! She was Draco's!

Draco froze as that last thought hit him and he realized exactly  _why_  he felt the way he did. He considered her his. And now that he thought about it, why shouldn't he? He'd found her first. He'd known her first. He knew things about her that even the Dark Lord never would. So why was it that he was being treated the way he was by everyone? If anything the Dark Lord should be  _grateful_ that because of  _Draco_  he had his… whatever the hell Chloe was to him! But  _no_. He didn't feel grateful. And he was trying to give the girl to a Bulgarian turd who'd shown no loyalty to, or even interest in, the cause.

Draco couldn't let him do it. He  _wouldn't_  let him. Chloe might allow herself to be a pawn in this game but he wasn't going to. Whether she liked it or not, she belonged to him, and he was possessive with his things. He was possessive and jealous. Damn it, he was jealous.

_I'm jealous._

Sitting down on his bed, Draco groaned as the embarrassing realization sunk deep within his core. He wasn't the jealous type - especially not when it came to girls. And yet from the beginning she'd never been just another girl, had she? She'd been the pen pal with the right amount of snark and edge to keep him intrigued, to keep him writing, to keep him waiting for her responses. And when those responses stopped coming she'd been the reason he'd lived a restless existence. And then she'd returned, alive, and then in Hogwarts with him, and she'd been—.

His door slid open and he looked up to see Chloe, still dressed in her gown, face scrunched in a frown as her eyes found and held his furiously.

She seemed just as pissed as he felt, her voice low and dangerous. "What the  _hell_  is wrong with you?"

"This is  _not_  the time to bug me, woman." He turned his back on her and looked at the wall, trying to figure out just what it was about this girl that made him crazy. Honestly, why did he like her? She was a pain! And she infuriated him more than anyone else ever could! What was so great about her that he apparently liked and wanted for himself?

"Well too bad." She closed the door behind her and stormed into the room to stand in front of him, hands on her hips. Anyone else would've been smart enough to leave him alone while he was in this state, even his parents, and yet not her. "Why couldn't you just enjoy the ball and let me enjoy it as well?"

"You looked like you were bloody well enjoying yourself." Draco sneered, the memory of having to watch her dance over and over again with Nott, then Potter, and then  _Krum_ … it really made his already bad mood even worse. "Don't know what  _you're_  complaining about."

"If you are so pissed that I danced with other guys then you should've just asked me to dance with  _you_." She glared at him, somehow having the nerve to blame the whole wretched evening on him! "That would've fixed everything. But you didn't. You preferred to sulk and  _glare_  at me and anyone I talked to. I was supposed to be mingling and you were supposed to be helping me! Not being a hindrance!"

"You did pretty well without my help." His grip on his self-control was dwindling very rapidly. "You were drooling so much over Krum I thought he'd drown."

"Oh for heaven's sake Draco, get a grip! Viktor is sweet! And kind! And I don't get a lot of that in Death Eater company!" She threw her hands in the air, clearly as exasperated with him as he was with her. "I'd love to see him again! Talk to him again! Plus, he's a great source of information given how close he is to Hermione Granger! He could have information that we desperately need! But despite the fact that I don't mind being in Viktor's company… that doesn't mean that I want to  _be_  with him!"

Draco sneered at her. "Right."

"Will you  _stop_  being so  _sullen_?"

" _Sullen_?" He glared and shot up to his feet as he took a couple of steps towards her as he cast a Silencing Spell on the room so he could truly roar. "I'm not bloody sullen! I'm beyond peeved! With everyone! But especially with you!"

"Well that was obvious!" She wasn't backing down. She never backed down. "And you have no reason to be!"

"No  _reason_? You were ALL OVER that guy!" Draco snarled at her, quickly losing all ability to control himself. "And before that you were all too happy to leave me to go with Nott! And then you danced with  _Potter_  of all people! Don't let them put their hands on you, and don't touch them! I can't stand it when you touch them! Or when you smile at them! Or when you look like you think they're adorable! They're not adorable so don't damned well think it!"

"Malfoy! If you were any more possessive you'd have peed on me by now!" She snarled at him.

"Don't. Tempt. Me."

Her expression was a perfect mixture of shock, horror, and dark amusement. "You're impossible."

He continued to glare at her but could feel his ire starting to diminish. "Stop that."

"Stop what?" By now her lips twitched in the beginnings of a smile.

"We're fighting. Stop laughing."

"I'm not laughing." And yet she giggled softly before she threw herself down on his bed. "You're such a brat, Draykie."

"Do  _not_  call me that," he growled as he collapsed next to her.

"Okay, you're such a kid, Draykie." Her voice was filled with teasing.

With a hiss Draco tackled her, glad he'd cast the Silencing Spell because she squealed in laughter. There was no other form of revenge against her than tickling, and while Draco had never thought he'd ever do something so childish, he tickled the hell out of her until she was squealing and begging for mercy, tears in her eyes and laughter pouring from her lips. She squirmed desperately under him, her hair coming undone and resting on his emerald green silk sheets.

Finally he stopped and stared down at the flushed, giggling girl beneath him, and realized with a pain in his chest that he might be more than just possessive of her. Salazar damn him but Zabini was right. He… he cared about her. He cared about her  _a lot_. That scared him like hell, nothing had prepared him for a moment like this, but thankfully she didn't give him much time to panic as she reached up for the front of his shirt and yanked him down against her in a kiss that left him utterly unable to think.

With a groan he swept her into his arms and kissed her deeper, reveling in the taste he'd missed since she'd left Hogwarts. She was a ripe fruit waiting to be plucked, and he was a starved, wayward traveler desperate for what she offered. He'd kissed her so many times while she was in Pansy's form, and he enjoyed it, but there was nothing like kissing Chloe when she actually looked like herself. He'd always seen her through the Pansy-disguise. It was the twinkle in her eyes or the mischievous tilt of her lips. But this was different. This was Chloe, completely Chloe, whimpering against him, kissing him deeper, pulling him fully on top of her as she lay on  _his_  bed.

"You're frustrating," he whispered against her lips.

Those lips curled in an amused smile under his own. "You're one to talk."

"You're annoyingly liberal with your annoying affections."

"You're exasperating when you're jealous," she whispered.

"You're—," but Draco never got to say what she was because she silenced him with her lips.

He did not complain, hell, he didn't say a word until long after, as they lay on his bed, still fully clothed yet those clothes were ridiculously wrinkled. Said clothes weren't very comfortable to lay down in either, he did not envy Chloe's tight bodice and was surprised that she had yet to complain. His silvery gaze shifted to the side to stare at her, the blonde laying down next to him on his bed, her cheek resting over his heartbeat as her fingers traced the embroidered designs on his shirt.

"How did you end up dancing with Potter?" He finally asked as he found himself playing with her hair. While he wasn't used to this sort of closeness with anyone he was surprised at his ease with her, and at how much he enjoyed this.

"He came up to us and asked me to dance after Theo and I finished our own dance," Chloe confirmed his suspicion as she continued to trace the embroidered designs with her fingertip. "I was shocked, and terrified. I looked for you, you know. But you weren't around."

"I was talking with Zabini," he admitted, although he refused to let her know what they had been speaking about. Until he knew more he wouldn't tell her anything. Hell, even if he did learn more he might not be able to tell her anything, not with the way the Dark Lord delved through her mind constantly. "Why did you look in pain?"

There was a moment's silence, and then Chloe sighed as she shifted so that she was lying on her stomach, resting her weight on her elbows as she stared at him. "When I'm close to him I get a pain in my forehead, and sometimes, when we touch, I see things."

Draco's eyes narrowed immediately as he backed up onto his elbows. "What do you mean? What kind of things do you see?"

"Usually it's too fast for me to really know exactly what I'm seeing," she admitted, her green eyes caught by his silver. "But once when I was using Polyjuice he grabbed me by the wrist and I saw something… something… something horrible."

He remained silent, waiting for her to finish.

Chloe took in deeply. "I think I saw two murders." She lowered her head and breathed in deeply before looking up at him. "There was a woman, she was a redhead, and she jumped in front of a baby boy to protect him from a curse. I think it was the Avada Kedavra."

From that description it was obvious that she'd seen Lily Potter's death. But  _why_? What could possibly explain her ability to see something like that by merely touching Potter?

"And then, seconds later, I saw another woman, with dark hair, holding a baby girl while a curse with the same colors as in the first vision exploded somewhere else in the room." Chloe scrunched up her face even more. "I don't know if it was the same murder and I was seeing a different part of the room, or if it was a different murder. All I know was that two babies were involved, two women were involved, and so was the Avada Kedavra."

What. The. Bloody. Hell?

The first one he could understand - everyone knew about Lily Potter's murder - but what about the second one? The one with a female baby? What did that have to do with anything? He couldn't think of any attack which had involved a female child. Longbottom's parents had been attacked and tortured into insanity around the same time, but Longbottom wasn't a girl. And anyway, he really shouldn't have anything to do with this - nor should Potter though.

So what was Chloe seeing and  _why_?

It wasn't just Chloe either, Draco had seen the way Potter had acted. He'd also seemed in pain… and that made him wonder if Potter saw things when he touched Chloe. The thought chilled Draco to his core. He'd known Potter was a danger for the blonde, but he hadn't realized just  _how_  dangerous he actually was!

"Why do you think I saw that?" Chloe asked softly, gaze on her hands. "Have you ever heard of something like that happening? Do you think maybe Potter was involved? That maybe he was the one who did it or something? Could he have killed them?"

Draco's eyes widened.

Chloe  _didn't know_?

 _How_  could she not have known?

Surely the story of what Voldemort had done—his attempt on Potter's life when he'd been an infant— _surely_  Chloe  _knew_  about that? How could she have lived with Voldemort - have been in his inner circle - and  _not_  know? That was impossible, right?

And yet, as he stared into her earnest, worried eyes, he realized that somehow she'd never heard of one of the most infamous stories that circulated through the Wizarding World. She didn't know that Voldemort had tried and failed to kill Harry Potter when Potter had been a baby.

A knock sounded on his bedroom door. "I would like a word with you, Draco."

His eyes widened. Great. His father. He turned to Chloe.

Her eyes were wide as well, yet she didn't panic, instead, she whispered very softly. " _Trixie_?"

In seconds the House Elf appeared in front of them. "Yes Miss?"

" _Could you please take me to my room without anyone seeing us?"_  Chloe asked, hands clasped together in supplication.

Trixie smiled and in seconds the two of them disappeared.

Draco grinned, unable to believe the girl's cunning, and got up, going to the door and unlocking it to see his father standing there. "You wanted a word?"

Lucius peered inside the room before clearing his throat and entering. "Shut the door."

Rolling his eyes, Draco did as told.

Lucius very unsubtly glanced around the room, around the bed and closet, going as far as to even peek into his bathroom before clearing his throat once more and turning to face Draco. "I am very disappointed in your behavior tonight. You were supposed to  _help_  Chloe, not  _hinder_  her." He pursed his lips. "That girl has been singing your praises to our Lord ever since she returned from Hogwarts, she has not been subtle at all, and yet I fear you will undo any goodwill she has managed to procure due to your incompetence."

"How exactly did I hinder her?" Draco wanted to know despite knowing exactly what his father had taken issue with. "She seems to have enjoyed herself fully with that imbecile, Krum."

Lucius narrowed his eyes at him. "I thought you liked Viktor Krum."

"I used to think he was a half-decent Quidditch player when I was a  _child_ , I've outgrown him," Draco drawled slowly, folding his arms over his chest. "I also don't see how flinging Chloe at someone so close to Harry Potter is good for her. I was trying to  _help_  her get out of having to deal with him and thus be exposed to Potter and his two sidekicks." He tilted his head. "I thought the idea was for her to be safe, and I do not see how throwing her into Potter's circle is doing so."

Lucius' mouth opened and closed, clearly not exactly how to answer that without telling Draco about his  _true plans_. He cleared his throat and raised his chin imperiously. "We will be having Viktor over and I expect you to be  _welcoming_." And with that, and a discreet peek underneath Draco's bed, Lucius stormed out of the room.

Draco watched him go before he sneered.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville/Harry Potter**

**Sequel to: Chloe Sullivan & The Slytherin Princes**

**4/8**

—

The search for Lana Rosier was really grating on his nerves, and that was that he was leaving most of the actual searching to Zabini, who apparently felt that, given his previous correspondence with Rosier, he knew her better than the others searching for her ever could. Draco wanted to point out that they'd written to each other for a couple of months  _two years ago_ , and that with everything that had happened Rosier was most probably a completely different person than the one Zabini had written to, but given the fact that he did less work this way and was able to concentrate on other issues Draco just let things slide. He provided Zabini with resources and alibis, and let Zabini do the actual legwork himself.

There was too much going on for Draco to really concentrate on the search for Lana Rosier anyway. Not only was Krum visiting far more often than he would like but there was Chloe's psychic connection with Potter to worry and ponder about. And, of course, who could really forget the Dark Lord looming over them all?

Finding out about the extent of Chloe's ignorance regarding Voldemort really made Draco wonder about Chloe's allegiance. Could she truly be loyal to someone if she didn't actually know very important things about them? What about the others girls? Did this somehow play into why Lana Rosier might have killed Aunt Bellatrix? Had those questions she'd started asking been because, while at Hogwarts, she'd started finding out more things that had been kept from them about their side of the war?

Was that why Voldemort kept Chloe so close to him? Because he didn't want her finding out things that might sway her opinion?

Draco had observed Chloe in Hogwarts. No matter how much she preached about the evils of the other side, she upheld quite a couple of their moralistic values. For one, she was probably the only person associated with Death Eaters who didn't think Muggles were beneath them, or that Mudbloods were lesser people. Hell, of everyone in Hogwarts that Mudblood Gryffindor, Riley something or the other, had clearly been her favorite. She'd tried hiding it, and Draco never would've known had he not been keeping very close tabs on her, but still he'd noticed.

Had Chloe come into the war without anyone there to tell her which side was hers, had her life not been in danger, had her father not served so diligently… would she have actually  _chosen_  the side she was currently on? The more Draco thought about it, the less convinced he was that that would've been the case.

It made him think back to her recent trip to Riddle Manor. Draco had not been invited, clearly, but that was okay because it had allowed him to gather information from his mother without his father being in the way to shush her.

From little comments Narcissa had made, Draco now knew that during the whole time Chloe had been living at Malfoy Manor, she had still spent much time visiting Voldemort at Riddle Manor. It was surprising that the Dark Lord would do that, especially considering the upheaval and suspicion cast on everyone as of late - especially with Aunt Bellatrix's death. The safest option for Chloe would be for her to remain sequestered in Malfoy Manor and not do anything that could draw attention to herself, yet these trips did exactly that.

Why, knowing that, did Voldemort still choose to bring her back to the manor frequently? Mother had also commented on how that had not been the case when Gaunt had been with them. Lois Gaunt had remained with them, steadfastly, until she had finally managed to graduate from their classes and was finally able to 'pretend to be a lady'. Chloe, on the other hand, had apparently been  **V** isited (as she'd called it in her Sweetheart Scroll) by Voldemort multiple times while she'd been with Aunt Bellatrix, and she'd been called away by Voldemort while she'd been in Hogwarts more than once. And now that she was in Malfoy Manor she seemed to be summoned more and more frequently.

It had really disturbed Draco when his mother had spilled this, and after Chloe and Lucius had finally returned from Riddle Manor, Draco had waited as long as he could to find a discreet moment to see the experience through Chloe's mind. He found it odd that he was able to use Legimens on her without any terrible side effect, without any of the pain she'd admitted happened whenever Voldemort tried to use it on her anymore. That made Draco wonder if, some part of Chloe, some subconscious part, was fighting the Dark Lord's invasion of her mind.

Whatever it was, he hoped it continued on forever. After what he'd seen in her mind before - that sickness - and the doubt as to what Voldemort was actually putting her through - he'd been (uncharacteristically for him)  _worried_  of what she might have been put through during this last visit.

And then, what he'd seen while delving secretly into her mind had left him unnerved to say the least. The memory still bothered him even now, hell, the more he thought about what he'd seen, the more uneasy he grew.

_Chloe stood in front of a painting of a young man, who was pale, with dark eyes and hair, wearing black robes with Slytherin-green accents here and there. She wore a dress of similar coloring, her hair in an upswept hairstyle, her hands clasped behind her back as she admired the portrait, the subject of whom was observing her with narrowed-eyed interest._

_"Do you like being a portrait?" She asked the young man, who continued to eye her in critical silence. "Or do you regret having been made? Do you feel trapped?" She moved closer to the portrait and reached out to trail her fingers against the silver frame. "What is the world like on that side of a painting?"_

_The portrait scowled down at her._

_"Muggle portraits are still, lifeless," she informed him softly, ignoring the anger in his eyes as she talked to him about a topic he clearly did not enjoy. "I used to think I preferred Wizarding ones, but now I think you might be parts of the soul that's trapped behind glass." She curled her fingers into a fist and let her hand fall to her side. "It's almost too sad to contemplate when I think of it like that."_

_"What a queer view of things," a voice declared from somewhere behind her. "And what an odd thing to become sentimental about."_

_Chloe turned from the portrait and smiled as her gaze fell upon Voldemort, who was dressed in fine robes. "My Lord." She reached for his hand once he drew nearer and brought it to her lips in a kiss. "I did not think you would be done so quickly - did the meeting end favorably?"_

_He nodded, not saying more about that, or going into detail what the meeting had even been about. Instead he eyed the painting curiously. "Do you talk to this portrait often?"_

_A blush colored her cheeks. "I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I find his stalwart silence a challenge. He doesn't like me, but that's fine, even if it's to tell me to leave he'll have to speak to me some day." She sent a mischievous grin in the portrait's direction, clearly making sure he knew she was talking to him. "All you have to say is 'bugger off' and I'll leave you alone."_

_The portrait merely glared at her._

_She grinned and turned back to Voldemort with a sheepish grin. "I probably shouldn't have said 'bugger off' in front of you. It's not very ladylike. Lucius would be cringing right now if he'd heard me say it."_

_"How goes your studies?" Voldemort asked instead of acknowledging her previous comment. One of his hands went to the small of her back as he led her towards the seating area in that room, next to a lit fireplace. "I hear Draco Malfoy is back from school on holidays." He tilted his head as he sat and motioned for her to take a seat next to him. "He is not distracting you from your studies, is he?"_

_"No." Chloe shook her head with a nervous chuckle as she eased into the plush sofa next to him, clearly enjoying being so close to the blazing fire. "In fact, he's been assisting." She shifted on the sofa to give the fireplace her back and instead somewhat face Voldemort, giving him her full attention. "And if anything, he's a harder to please taskmaster than Lucius and Narcissa combined, critiquing everything they're praising me over." She tilted her head and snickered with a shake of her head. "By the time I've managed to graduate from their schooling I am sure I will be a Pureblood Lady you could be proud of."_

_"I do not have to repeat myself concerning him, do I?" The Dark Lord stared at her imperceptibly._

_Chloe's gaze lowered as she traced invisible lines on the sofa between them. "What would he have to do to win your favor, My Lord? He lost it because of his friendship towards me, and I still do not quite understand why being friends with me was so terrible of a crime. I am not questioning you, or your ways, I just-I just want to understand it." Her gaze rose to his, clearly searching, pleading, truly trying to understand. "Maybe if I understand why his sin was so grave, I can understand what you need from him, and I can mold him, I can help him become what you need, and you can forgive him."_

_Voldemort tilted his head as he watched her, clearly intrigued by this. "Do you **want**  him to court you?"_

_Chloe gulped and lowered her gaze once more, a dark flush on her cheeks. "I wouldn't hate it."_

_"I spoke to you clearly regarding him," the Dark Lord spoke with no emotion, apparently moreso talking to himself now than to her. "Was I wrong to believe that you were smarter than to allow yourself to be controlled by teenaged hormones like any stupid little school girl?"_

_Her eyes widened as she looked up at him in fear. "No! You were not!" She moved closer and caught his hand, bringing it to her lips in a kiss like she had earlier. "I'm not ungrateful, My Lord, and I respect what you desire for me. You only want what is best for me, it is why I want to understand it. I-you are my savior-you-."_

_"And yet clearly Lucius' boy has some kind of hold over you." Once more, it seemed like the Dark Lord was talking to himself instead of to her, as if he were making mental notes. "Maybe he should spend the rest of his holiday with friends."_

_It was obvious on her face that Chloe wanted to beg him not to send Draco away, but that she didn't feel she had the right to do so, or, more probably, she knew that doing so would no doubt end in Draco being sent away._

_Voldemort watched her with sharp intelligence. "Well, you will be ending your tutelage soon enough before returning to Riddle Manor on a more permanent basis." His lips twitched in dark amusement. "I'm sure I can trust Lucius to reign in his spawn for the remaining duration of your stay."_

_Chloe huffed softly, clearly unhappy, and obviously not having realized she'd made her displeasure known._

_"Once you are finally back, your studies complete, you will use what you have learnt to help further our cause."_

_At that Chloe looked up, her displeasure quickly turning to curiosity. "Will I have another mission?"_

_"In a manor of speaking, yes," the Dark Lord admitted. "There are things happening, chess pieces are being moved, and I will need someone I can trust at my side to do what needs to be done." He reached out, his reflexes quick as lightning as he gripped her chin tightly and pulled her closer. "The question, is, whether you truly are the one I can trust by that time that moment comes."_

_Hurt fluttered over her features. "Why is this enough for you to doubt me?"_

_Voldemort did not seem to be listening to her, instead he was frowning at her. "I do not like your hairstyle. It does not suit you. It is undoubtably a style that Narcissa would wear - far too matronly for someone your age. I am disappointed you were styled in this way, your appearance will be vital in the future. Mistakes like this cannot be made or encouraged."_

_Chloe brought her hands to her hairstyle. "Do I not pull it off?"_

_His answer was to grab the clip holding her hair up and to throw it into the fireplace._

_Disappointment clouded her expression as she pouted, clearly distressed with his reaction to her new hairdo and his having questioned her loyalty. "I see I still have much more to learn, to grow." Her eyes then lit up and she smiled as she straightened, visibly trying to regain favor in his eyes. "Viktor Krum continues to visit me at Malfoy Manor, and I believe that whatever this mysterious business is that he is here to do, it has to do with Dumbledore's damned Order. Or the Ministry. Something. It does not have to do with his sports at all. He skirts the subject, but I know that if I have a little more time with him he'll let enough slip for me to have some idea. He's already let slip that this ties back to the Tri-Wizard tournament somehow, but I need to find out more about that tournament before I can figure out how it might connect with-."_

_"Enough."_

_She flinched and pulled back._

_He sighed, looking very put upon. "I can tell you what happened at that tournament."_

_Chloe looked up at him in surprise._

_The Dark Lord eyed her curiously before sighing once more, clearly frustrated and somewhat bored. "Harry Potter forced his way into the tournament despite not being supposed to join due to his age, and of course Dumbledore allowed him to do so because he is Dumbledore's greatest weapon. You keep a weapon placated to keep it docile."_

_Chloe moved closer and did not seem to mind, or even notice, when Voldemort reached out to twirled his finger through her hair, it seemed natural and normal to the both of them._

_"He passed the trials, and then murdered Cedric Diggory when he got to the Cup seconds before he did." The Dark Lord sneered as his grip on Chloe's hair tightened. "He then blamed Cedric Diggory's death **on me**."_

_Chloe's faced twisted slightly in pain at his grip, yet her eyes were darkened in fury. "And of course, the people believed him."_

_"It is easy to see me as the villain, look at me, I appear like a monster while he looks like a hero." Voldemort's face twisted. "It is hard to have people believe you are not the monster when you look the part. When you barely resembled a human at all." His crimson gaze shifted to her. "Even you, when you dreamt of me, thought I was a monster."_

_In seconds the guilt was visible before she hung her head low. "I may have thought so when I didn't know the truth about any of this, but I know the truth now, and I know that despite what he wants people to believe, Harry Potter is the monster, **not you**." She looked up at Voldemort with tears in her eyes. "You're the hero."_

_He snorted and shook his head, but loosened his grip on her hair. "I would not go so far as to label me a hero. This is a war, and there are casualties in them, many times innocents."_

_"You can't save everyone," she whispered softly, apparently accepting the casualties. "But you save those you can. You saved **me.**  And Lois. And Lana."_ _She then made a face, nibbling on her bottom lip, the hands on her lap clenched in her skirt before she looked up at him. "Speaking of Lana... has there been any word?"_

_The Dark Lord was silent as he stared down at her, a thoughtful expression on his face as he did so._

_Chloe's expression crumbled for a second before she lowered her gaze and tightened her grip on her skirt. "Please don't say that you also think she might have turned on us. She wouldn't. She's in danger, she is captive, somewhere, probably scared and hurt and—!" Her voice caught in her throat as she lowered her head further and somehow fluidly slipped off of the sofa and onto her knees in front of him in supplication. "_ **_Please_ ** _do not give up on the search for her. She needs us to find her, to save her."_

_Voldemort remained silent, merely watching the girl trembling at his feet._

_"I know you have done so much for us already, protected us from that monster - Albus Dumbledore - and I don't have the right to ask for anything more…" Chloe leaned her forehead against his knees, her voice muffled. "I don't have anything to give you in exchange but my pride… I'm not even truly useful to you… but_ **_please_ ** _, I know I am being selfish, but Lana—Lana needs us to find her." She clutched his robes with a trembling grip as she turned her face up to him, revealing the tears she was refusing to shed. "If I were the one who'd been taken, she would be here right now, on her knees, asking you to not lose faith in me, to find me."_

_Voldemort finally spoke, his voice low, unemotional. "You still feel such intense loyalty to her that you would get on your knees before me and beg."_

_"Of course," Chloe whispered in surprise._

_The Dark Lord leaned forwards and cupped the side of her face, lifting it so he could stare into her eyes. Almost immediately Chloe's face shifted in pain as everything around her began to pulsate, her surroundings trembling, not fixed. His eyes bore into hers, not allowing her to look away, barely allowing a blink._

_Blood began to drip down from her tear ducts, trailing their way down her face as soft sobs escaped her lips. "It—it hurts…"_

_"Do you truly wish for me to find Lana or not?" Voldemort asked in a displeased tone. "I may not be able to delve into your mind in the manner in which I could before, but if you truly wish for my aid you will sit there and take the pain." He leaned in closer. "Anyone can beg another for help, Chloe, and yet rare are those who are strong enough to do what must be done, for most their resolve is as weak as their tears." His face was much closer. "Are you weak? Or are you strong?"_

_Chloe's hands clutched deeply into the rug and into the sofa itself, the blonde riding out the pain as best she could, her teeth grit and her whole body trembling._

_She blacked out. Her memory flickered crazily all around her before going completely black… and then…_

_Chloe awoke to find herself lying on the sofa, head rested on a cushion. She brought a hand to her head as she slowly sat up and glanced around the private room, confused. There was no trace of blood on her or her clothes, no evidence of what had happened._

_"Did I… fall asleep?" She asked herself in confusion._

_"Have you managed to sleep off your, quite frankly, tedious sentimentality?" A voice asked._

_Chloe turned towards the voice and stood up immediately. "So_ **_now_ ** _you're talking to me?" She sashayed towards the portrait, a growing smile on her face. "What gives?"_

_The portrait eyed her with unhappiness._

_"Oh, come on now, you can't go back to giving me the silent treatment." Chloe leaned in closer with the air of a victor. "You broke, you lose."_

_"I do not_ **_lose_ ** _," the portrait assured her with obvious disgust at the very thought. "I merely do not appreciate you coming into my domain and subjecting me to hysterics."_

_Chloe frowned immediately in confusion. "Hysterics?"_

_He raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Have some pride. It is not becoming for you to be so… weak… because of someone else. A Pureblood cannot be so weak."_

_"Weak." Chloe tilted her head, her eyebrows nearly touched in her frown. She then shook her head and brought her hand to her forehead. "I must apologize to Lord Voldemort for—fainting? Falling asleep?" She frowned harder, her tone questioning before she shook her head and looked up at the portrait. "Did he leave a long time ago?"_

_"Long enough." The portrait shrugged. "He went to double the Death Eaters searching for that friend of yours."_

_Chloe's eyes widened. "Oh." She ran her hand over her hair, which now hung loosely around her shoulders. A small smile touched her lips as she ducked her head._

_"That makes you happy," the portrait noted, sounding annoyed at that._

_"I'm defective. I cannot do most magic, cannot even use a wand, I'm almost a Squib," she whispered softly. "Anyone else would be ashamed at my inadequacies… but he is still so kind to me." She clutched her hands tightly in front of her. "I cannot even begin to repay him for all he has done for my family, for me."_

_The portrait eyed her curiously, tilting his head and his dark gaze slowly trailed over her. "I suppose the only way someone like you could repay him would be with absolute fealty."_

_She nodded her agreement. "I know."_

_"Then is your loyalty to your friend not a show of disloyalty to him?" The portrait asked acidly. "One cannot serve multiple masters."_

_Chloe looked up immediately, eyes wide. "I don't—."_

_"If you had to choose between saving Lana, or saving_ **_him_ ** _, there should be no doubt in your mind who to save," the portrait informed her. "If there is any hesitation on your behalf then you are a useless servant and one who should be disposed of."_

_The blonde flinched and pressed her hand to her head harder. "I—I—."_

_"What if your friend_ **_has_ ** _turned against him?" The portrait pressed. "What_ **_then_ ** _? Will you snivel at his feet once more and beg for his forgiveness, beg for her life to be spared?"_

_Chloe turned away from the portrait, gripping her head tightly as the room around her began to flicker once more. She caught a glimpse of her own reflection, seeing her pupils dilating and contracting crazily, so she closed her eyes tightly and yet could hear a fuzzy distortion around her._

_"Don't turn away from me!" The portrait snarled. "Answer me, Pureblood! Will you grovel and beg for her life should that happen?"_

_Suddenly the fuzzy distortion stopped, and when Chloe opened her eyes her reflection revealed her pupils were normal once more. The world wasn't spinning, wasn't flickering, everything was normal._

_"I asked you a question," the portrait hissed from behind her. "I expect an answer. If your friend has betrayed your Lord, would you beg him for her life to be spared?"_

_"No." The word slipped from her lips as a strange calm entered her body. Chloe turned around to face the portrait, her body lax, at ease. "If she betrayed him, she has betrayed us all…" A cold feeling clenched in her stomach at the very thought as her eyes rose to meet those dark ones. "If Lana betrayed him I would kill her_ **_myself_ ** _."_

_The portrait eyed her in silence as a slow smirk formed on his lips._

Just the memory of that smirk made Draco clench his fists tighter around the Firebolt Supreme. This latest stolen memory, and the way it unsettled Draco, was half of the reason he was doing this right now, especially since Chloe was having none of it so far no matter how much he tried to coax her otherwise. Whether she realized it or not, ever since she'd come back from Riddle Manor she'd been trying to put some distance between them, and Draco was just not having it.

"No." Chloe glared at him.

He shook his head of his thoughts and smirked down at her. "Have I found Chloe Sullivan's weakness?"

She narrowed her eyes, clearly annoyed with him for daring to say she had a weakness, yet pleased that he'd called her Sullivan and not Greengrass.

"Every witch knows how to fly a broomstick," Draco sing-singed as he did a backflip on his Firebolt Supreme, returning to where he'd been hovering in the air. "You're probably the only one who has never actually ridden any."

"I have been avoiding it, thank you very much," she muttered, hands on her hips, eyeing the thing as if it were about to catch on fire any minute. "I've fallen off of a horse, I refuse to fall off of  _that_  as well."

"You've ridden a horse?" He grinned at the imagery. "How archaic." When she turned and moved to go back into the manor he overtook her and blocked her way in. "C'mon, Sullivan, don't be like that. I never took you for a coward."

Her green eyes narrowed further. "You're using my surname to butter me up, yet you ruin it by taunting me. You clearly have no skill when it comes to coaxing someone to do what you want them to do."

He once again had to overtake her and block her way when she tried to leave. "One ride. Okay? Just one."

Chloe sighed as she eyed him and the broomstick, clearly contemplating pushing him off of it. "Why do you care if I do this or not?"

There was no good or acceptable reason for this, he doubted she'd be very pleased knowing half of the appeal was getting her caged in with him on the broomstick with no where else to go. "You're the one who said you wanted to experience all the Wizarding World has to offer."

She pouted. "I hate it when you use my words against me."

Draco's grin was bright as he scooter further down in anticipation.

Unease filtered over her face. "You want me to sit in front? Not behind?"

Instead of answering, Draco patted the seat in front of him.

Sighing, Chloe hiked up the skirt of her dress and straddled the broomstick unevenly. A little cry escaped her lips as she grabbed hold of the handle, trying to right herself, yet nearly fell off. Draco managed to wrap one arm around her waist, pulling her back against his chest, anchoring her to him and thus the broom. She leaned back into him immediately, and when he eased the Firebolt Supreme up into the air she leaned back even more with a cry, grabbing hold of the arm he held around her.

Grinning into her hair, Draco figured she'd be pissed as hell if she realized this was exactly the reason he wanted her to try flying on the broomstick. That, and the way her free hand gripped his thigh as if to life itself as she basically melded into him.

"I'm going to die," Chloe whimpered.

"Nah," he chuckled, rising higher and higher into the air until they'd be hard to make out from the ground. "I'm not letting go of you."

"How can you enjoy this?" Chloe's voice squeaked.

"Well, it's freeing to be in the air," he admitted, having taken the question seriously. "It doesn't matter what I'm supposed to do down there, not while I'm up here." He then chuckled before pressing a kiss to her neck, and another, and another, each one slower, harder, and with more hint of teeth. "I also can do  _this_  while I'm up here. If we were  _down there_  I'd have to worry about someone seeing us, but with us up here, with the sun directly above us, we can do whatever the hell we want. If they try to spy on us - let them go blind."

A snort of shocked laughter escaped her lips. "Did you bring me up here to  _make out_?"

"Not  _exactly_." He nibbled on her neck and grinned when she tilted it to give him better access. "You'd have to be facing me for it to be  _making out_." He dug his teeth in playfully, not enough to leave a lasting mark, but enough to taste her flesh. "Plus, Malfoy's don't  _make out_. We  _snog_." He snickered. "We're British."

She chuckled and began softly caress the hand he held around her, anchoring her body to his. "We are going to be in a lot of trouble when he finds out about us. He doesn't want us getting close - he won't like this."

Draco leaned his chin against her shoulder, not wanting to think about Voldemort right now, especially not with that latest memory still unnerving the hell out of him. "You said he's not searching your mind anymore because of what happened last time he tried, so we have a while to figure something out."

"Draco—."

"Look, I found you first, that makes you mine."

There was silence, and then a snickered: "Are you  _five_? You sound five!"

He huffed, refusing to rise to the bait.

Chloe relaxed a little more against him, resting the back of her head against his shoulder. "Who knew you were so possessive?" A smile played on her lips. "I knew you were a brat - I mean - how  _couldn't_  I considering all the times we wrote to each other? But I didn't realize just  _how_  much of a spoiled kid you are. I'm not a  _toy_  you know. You can't just claim ownership like that." And yet that smile was turning into a grin. "Your mother would cry if she knew just how immaturely you act when she's not around."

This was not the time to be talking about his mother, especially not with how uncomfortable his pants were getting. He really hadn't thought this plan through completely.

"You know, you haven't even told me you like me," Chloe informed him in an odd tone. "All you've done is thrown a jealous tantrum, chase me around your house and  _snog_  me every chance you get, and now you tell me I'm yours because you  _found me first_." She snickered at the memory of that. "And yet - no 'I like you'."

The moment dragged on in silence as Draco buried his face in her hair. He'd hoped this conversation wouldn't come up. It wasn't that he didn't care for her, because, damn it, against his better judgment he  _really did_. But Malfoys did  _not_  talk about  _feelings_. That was just not something they did. His parents never expressed their undying love for each other, and had never been overly affectionate with him either. He was not only very uncomfortable with the idea of expressing emotions, but completely inexperienced and overwhelmed, a little intimidated too.

Why couldn't Chloe be like every other girl and just be over the moon by the fact that he clearly favored her? Why did she have to make things difficult? He wasn't good with emotions, with conveying them, and by putting him on the spot like this she was only setting him up for humiliating failure.

"You're the most tolerable girl I know," he managed to mumble out into her hair. That was far from what he really wanted to say, or what he knew she wanted to hear, but it was as much as he could say right now. Maybe later he could—.

"You're far from the most tolerable guy  _I_  know," she informed him immediately.

Draco groaned, hiding his face further in her hair. Yep. He'd blown it. Just like he'd known he would.

"Can you take us back down, please?" She asked stiffly.

" _No_." He shook his head and held onto her tightly. "You're pissed off at me so you'll just storm away the second we land and purposely be impossible to get alone."

There was a pause, and then a curious: "So what's your game plan then? To keep me up here until I'm not annoyed with you? Because, buddy, that's not going to work."

"I don't care. If I let you go back down I'll have to share you again."

She let out an annoyed growl. "Draco, I'm not a toy!"

"I know that!" He snapped, tightening his grip around her. "It'd be easier if you were! But you're so frustrating! You're impossible to deal with! You're purposely contrary! And you  _drive me mad_! I should've been relieved when you disappeared - you were such a pain in the arse - and yet I—I!" His breath escaped his lips harshly as he leaned his forehead against her shoulder, holding her so tightly to him it might hurt. "I hated you  _so much_  for disappearing… you keep leaving without telling me  _why_." His grip on her trembled. "I'm not going to share you, not with Nott, not with Krum, and not even with  _him_. You can't make me."

Chloe remained silent for a moment, before a soft sigh escaped her lips. "You're so difficult." And yet the annoyance from before was gone, replaced by an odd tenderness that caught him off guard. She shifted unevenly on the broom, gripping his thigh for balance as she twisted enough to grab his shirt and pull him in closer.

Those green eyes stared up into his face, those rosy lips twitching mischievously before she pressed a soft kiss to his lips. She was smiling when she pulled away and eased herself around, gripping the broomstick once more as she leaned back into Draco. "So, without giving me a heart attack - want to show me what this whole broomstick riding thing is all about?"

Draco was relieved she'd turned her back on him otherwise she'd see the huge smile on his face, and he'd never live that down. "Oh, I'll show you a thing or two," he promised, before securing his grip around her and taking off.

…

**TBC**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville/Harry Potter**

**Sequel to: Chloe Sullivan & The Slytherin Princes**

—

 

It should’ve been harder to find Lana Rosier. It should’ve been _much_ harder to find her, especially given the way she was giving the slip to all of the Death Eaters out looking for her. And yet Zabini had actually found her. Draco still couldn’t believe it. _How_ had Zabini been able to find her that easily when the best trackers in the Death Eaters were unable to find even one clue as to her location? Draco didn’t know whether to thank their lucky stars or feel incredibly suspicious at this miraculous discovery.

It wasn’t even as if she’d been hiding in the most unexpected of places or anything. She’d gone to freaking Smallville for crying out loud! How had she not been discovered here? Sure, she’d definitely learnt warding spells and such while under Voldemort’s care, but surely it couldn’t have been strong enough to hide from Death Eaters? Could it? And yet the girl was hiding in something called the Kawatche Caves, which she had apparently told Zabini all about during their days of corresponding, and somehow, _somehow_ , that had ended up with him checking out the caves (among other stops in Smallville, he’d apparently also checked out some abandoned flower shop called The Talon as well) and realizing there were wards around it. He’d gone back for Draco and together they’d gotten through the wards and found the girl, who’d made an odd little home for herself deep within the caves.

If it wasn’t for the fact that Zabini and Rosier were able to answer questions about each other that only they would know, well, Draco would think this was someone using a Polyjuice Potion to look like her. But no. He doubted any Death Eater would be able to pull off the sickly sweet and enamored way Lana Rosier acted when she was with Zabini Zabini.

Not only did Draco have very little tolerance for sweet-nothings and ridiculously adorable couples, but he wasn’t here to help Zabini and Rosier reunite. No. He was here because Rosier was connected to Chloe, and because Chloe could very well be in danger. That was why he’d cut the pen pals’ reunion short and went straight to business, calling Rosier a traitor and all sorts of nasty yet true names. He called her a murderer. A turn-coat. He bloody even called her bloody Potter, just so she’d see how badly he thought of her.

"You don't understand! He's lied to us! About _everything_!" Rosier looked pale as she sat on the bed she’d somehow gotten into the cave, her hands clutching her knees to her chest. She looked up at Zabini before her gaze lowered once more to her hands. “He told us we were special-but he _lied_."

"Why would he do that?" Zabini moved towards her carefully, as if towards an injured puppy, and sat next to her on the bed. "Why would he tell you you were special if you weren't? Why _treat_ you as special if you weren’t?“

She closed her eyes tightly.

Draco narrowed his gaze on her, able to read people well enough to know the answer. "Because they were special, but not in the way he'd told them."

She whimpered and nodded her head before she opened her eyes. "I'd always wondered, you know? I think I bought the kool aid a little less than Chloe and Lois, but then again, he didn’t spend as much time in my mind as he did theirs - especially Chloe’s. Those two years we spent with him he was always in our minds, but Chloe’s more than anyone else’s. He said it was just him trying to figure out why she couldn’t—we believed him.” She licked her lips. "But when Chloe got sick I started to _really_ wonder because he’d taken her away on some special little trip only for the two of them… and when they came back she was already sick and was bed-ridden for days. Something must’ve happened wherever he took her. Something horrible. He wouldn’t let us stay with her during the time she was sick, only he and the midi-witch were allowed in the room. And then, right after she got better, we were suddenly debuted in front of the Death Eaters and then almost immediately got shipped off to different places and were permanently separated without even being allowed any sort of communication between us.” She took in a deep breath. "I ended up in Hogwarts and I used the time to actually find answers to the questions I'd had for so long."

Zabini placed his hand on her shoulder.

Rosier leaned into the touch, as if drawing strength from it. “While in Hogwarts I channeled the Chloe who was the Editor of the Torch - before the Dark Lord got a hold of her - and did research, which I wrote about in my diary."

Ah, so _that_ was why she'd been so nervous about someone else reading it.

“I found out about how, if performed by a very highly skilled witch or wizard, Legimens can actually be used to alter the minds of others - memories, mentality, everything,” Rosier admitted with a growing frown. “There’s parts of those first two years I don’t remember, and at first I thought that, well, it made sense since it’s not like we have photographic memories or anything like that… but _months_ are missing.” She grabbed her hair and breathed heavily, clearly unnerved. “I didn’t really know Lois very well before Lucius came for us so I don’t know how different she might be now—but I knew _Chloe_. The Chloe I knew wouldn’t have just accepted the things she does now. I thought it was just her adaptability, but she stopped asking questions. Maybe not entirely, but she’s stopped asking the important questions, the _right_ questions.”

“What do you mean?” Zabini asked in confusion.

“She used to be in danger _all the time_ because she was always the one asking questions and doubting the answers,” Rosier revealed to him. “It was basically her defining characteristic, but it’s _gone_ now. Sure, she’s curious about the magical world and what’s going on in it, but she doesn’t question what we’ve been told, doesn’t question the other side of the story, doesn’t question _Him_. It’s like it doesn’t even occur to her to do it anymore.” Her voice went incredibly low. “I don’t think He was just going through our memories, I think there’s a reason why there’s parts of our time during those two years that we don’t remember. And I think _He_ went into Chloe’s mind, tinkered with it, and killed any part of her that didn’t suit His will.”

Draco clenched his fists tightly, hating hearing his own suspicions being echoed in her words.

“Why not do the same thing to you as he did to her, and potentially to Gaunt as well?” Zabini wanted to know curiously, worriedly. “It doesn’t make sense to leave you out of that process if he was taking the time to actually mentally condition—.”

“It does make sense, you’ll understand it in a minute when I explain it to you,” Rosier interrupted softly, clearly pained. “Blaise, while in Hogwarts I researched not only the Dark Lord, but Dumbledore and Harry Potter. I found out things that I couldn't believe. I wanted to think that this was just the other side of the war issuing terrible propaganda against the Dark Lord, but doesn't Harry Potter's scar prove the story is true? The Dark Lord really _did_ attack that boy when he was _just a baby_ to kill him! That-that's terrible!" She whimpered, as if physically pained by that revelation. "We'd never been told that story! We didn't know! We didn't know _so much_ , and what we _did_ know got twisted in such a way that it made the Order look like the evil ones and not _our side_.”

Zabini's expression looked utterly pained, as if he could feel her agony as his.

Draco, on the other hand, was given the confirmation he’d needed. Chloe really _hadn’t_ known the story of Voldemort and Potter’s first encounter. None of the girls had. His blonde truly thought she was on the righteous side of the battle.

"And then... and then I found out about _me,_ about my purpose, and I _knew_... I _knew_...!" Rosier whimpered and brought her hands to her face. "That day that you found me in Severus' chambers? The reason why I was so late for my next Polyjuice dose was because I'd just gotten the book I needed from the Restricted Section. When I made sure my diary was safe and out of Blaise’s hands, I read the book from the Restricted Section... and I wanted to _die_. But I was all alone and I didn't know who I could talk to about this - who I could trust!" Her whole body shook with her sob, the red in her eyes betraying she’d spent quite a few days crying nonstop. "And then, when I was with Bellatrix, I confronted her about it and she confirmed it with this huge, maniacal smile on her face that I just wanted to claw off!"

"What did he do to you, Lana?" Zabini's voice was soft but his eyes were hard. They looked dangerous, promised pain and torture. It seemed that Lana Rosier was the only person who could get Zabini out of his normally apathetic state of being.

"He'd told me that I was his daughter!" Rosier’s eyes were filled with tears once more. "He'd said that he'd known when he was younger that certain rituals he'd need to perform would render him unable to have children, so he'd fathered me first so that his lineage would never die."

Zabini's eyes widened.

"I never questioned it because it'd made sense. I was from the perfect bloodline." Rosier clutched at her hair, seeming ready to tear it out in her distress. "My mother was a Potter, a great Pureblood family with no history of Squibs or madness. And not only that, but my mother was a direct descendant of the Peverell lineage. It made sense that I would be his daughter. _It made sense_... _But he lied to me_!" Her body shook. "I'm not his daughter." She closed her eyes tightly, as if it was still hard to believe, as if she had to continuously force herself to do so. "I'm the person he's going to use to get his previous body back."

" _What_?" Draco could hear the shock in his own voice when it escaped him like that. There was no way that he’d actually heard that correctly, right? There was no way that Lord Voldemort could actually return to the way he’d used to look! It had to be impossible! How could one possibly turn back the clock when they looked like _him_?

And yet Voldemort’s comments to Chloe now made sense. From what Draco had heard, in his early days, the Dark Lord had not only started to amass followers due to his power, but because he’d been quite handsome and charming. The word ‘magnetic’ had been thrown around a couple of times by the older, female Death Eaters - and some of the male as well. Maybe Voldemort wanted those added assets in his corner once again to help him compete against Potter’s youth and image.

"Imagine _my_ reaction." Rosier shivered, whether in disgust or fear one could not truly tell. "Chloe, Lois and I always had nightmares about him, before we even knew he existed, but our nightmares were different. And I think they were actually memories of the nights our specific spells were cast. When I read through that book on the darkest forbidden arts I-I wanted to puke as I realized that I had been created to be sacrificed. The reason he's strengthening me, keeping me completely fit both physically, magically and _mentally_ is because I have to be at a certain level, maturity, before I can be used. Apparently he's deformed into the creature that he is now due to all of the darkest, most forbidden and evil arts that he's done. But he doesn't plan on looking like that forever." Rosier’s eyes were hardened. "He's prepared me since birth, siphoned a part of himself into me, using me as a living _container,_ and then groomed me so that I could grow up strong enough to be a part of a ritual which will return him to look the way he once did - at the cost of my life."

"I'm not going to let that happen." Zabini's voice was soft but strong. The anger and violence had returned to those eyes, to the shaking in his clenched fist.

"Neither am I." Rosier turned to him with a sad smile, wiping the back of her hands against her eyes, brushing away the tears gathered there. "When I broached the subject with Bellatrix I did so pretending I already knew and that I was honored. She then spilled it all, gave me the confirmation I needed. I-I waited until later that night and then I killed her." She looked utterly sick, revolted at the memory of what she had done. Rosier gazed at her hands, as if remembering the deed they’d committed. “I took her wand and then ran, like a coward."

"There wasn't anything else you could do," Zabini whispered as he leaned towards her and placed his arm around her shoulders incredibly gently. It was clear that he wanted to do more but was too worried to truly touch her, as if fearing her so fragile right now that the slightest of touches might break her.

"How did the Dark Lord not know that you’d discovered his true designs for you?” Draco's eyes narrowed, not really caring if she broke. There were things he needed to know, information vital for him to be able to begin formulating any sort of plan, and he’d wring her like a wet rag to get down to the last drop of knowledge she had. "Chloe says that whenever one of the three of you are brought back to him after a time apart Voldemort uses Legimens on you to read your thoughts. How did he not pick up on the fact that you knew and were horrified?"

"I was sent straight from Hogwarts to Bellatrix's." Rosier’s mouth twisted in distaste. "I believe it was supposed to be some sort of rebuke, to make me ashamed that he wouldn't even see me because of my inability to pass Severus' test, but it worked out in my favor. I was able to go on without getting caught, and then find out what I needed to." She looked up at Draco, suddenly seeming to realize something. "I'm sorry, because she was your aunt, but it was me or her and I chose me. I’d do it again if I had to.”

Draco didn't really care about that. He didn’t need her sorries or her self-pity. What he needed were answers, he needed the many blanks he had filled in. There were too many questions for her to slow the process down by issuing apologies both of them knew she did not truly feel. "What about Chloe? What is she, really?"

"Do you think she and Gaunt have the same purpose?" Zabini asked in a much softer, coaxing tone than Draco’s own. “Are they meant to bring back the Dark Lord's power and old visage? Will they be sacrifices?”

“I do not think so. We were told from the very beginning that we had different purposes. I was his daughter, Lois was..." Rosier cried out and grabbed at her throat. "Chloe was..." Pain flashed over her features as she looked between the both of them in growing fear. "I-I don't understand. Bellatrix is dead. Why can't I say it?"

"Because Bellatrix was the Secret Keeper of _your_ secret." Draco's eyes narrowed in surprise. He thought it had been stated that Rosier knew Bellatrix was the keeper of her secret, but apparently Rosier hadn’t realized it meant that Bellatrix wasn’t the keeper of Chloe and Gaunt’s secrets as well. "You're still Secondary Secret Keeper for Chloe and Gaunt's secrets."

"How do I do this then?" Rosier hung her head in visible defeat, her voice practically a whine. "I-I don't know if what we were told about them is true, but I don't think that they're like me. The three of us got treated differently, were made to focus on different subjects." She looked up at them but her eyes were distant, clearly remembering the two long years they’d lived with Lord Voldemort and everything they’d gone through while there - at least the parts that she could actually remember. "I am sure that whatever Lois and Chloe are - they serve a different purpose than I do." She closed her eyes and lowered her head once more as she gripped her hair tightly. "I'm so worried about them I can barely sleep.”

"Which is why you ran away and left them to their fates," Draco snarled, not at all willing to let this traitor revel in her own self-pity.

"Draco!" Zabini snapped, his voice warning Draco to back down and back off.

Rosier flinched and looked up at Draco with wide eyes, the frustration clear on her face. "I was trying to figure out how to get in contact with them without the Death Eaters finding out - how to make them believe me - but I couldn't think of anything!"

"You didn't try hard enough." Draco glared. Honestly, did she think she’d receive pity from him? He couldn’t care less about her woes, or about what happened to her. Hell, he’d drag Lana Rosier kicking and screaming right back to Lord Voldemort if it meant he’d be able to free Chloe from whatever hold the Dark Lord had over her.

" _Enough_." Zabini stood and went between them, his eyes threatening. It was as if he could see into Draco’s mind and knew exactly how little he cared about Rosier or her wellbeing - both mentally and physically. "If she were Chloe you wouldn't be putting her through this!"

"Damn straight I wouldn't!" Draco snarled, not backing down from the other Slytherin. "I don't give two figs about what happens to this bint!"

Rosier flinched and hugged her knees harder to her chest, looking very much the picture of a kicked puppy.

" **I DO**!" Zabini snarled right back at him, standing at his full height, as if that would make him more intimidating. "So you're going to back the bloody hell down, Malfoy or I swear on Salazar Slytherin you will regret it!"

The only reason Draco backed down was because he needed more information from this bint and he doubted she'd impart anything willingly if he injured the bloke she liked. He moved around Zabini and narrowed his silvery orbs on Rosier. He didn’t like her, just the fact that she was a Potter meant he’d always detest her, but for now he’d have to form a truce of sorts so long as it helped further his own cause. 

With that knowledge he took in a deep breath and spoke with as little disdain as he could muster. “So we have to assume that neither Chloe nor Gaunt are actually his daughters, or a source for him to look human again, and that they serve some other purpose. Probably not a good one."

"Or one of them could actually be his daughter," Zabini muttered, obviously still ticked with him but willing to put it aside for now. They were all going to have to work together on this, even if they didn’t like each other. That was a sobering thought. “Just because what he told Lana about _her_ purpose was a lie doesn’t mean it might not be the truth for one of the other two. If I were him I would want to keep my heir a secret, even from him or herself, especially during times like this when being an heir could get her killed.”

"If one of them was his actual daughter it would be Chloe, no doubt about it.” Rosier looked up with a sigh, appearing very tired and much paler than before, clearly very much in need of a good rest, nutritious food, and some sunlight. "She's his favorite, by far, he says he does not have favorites but it is clearly her. There has to be a reason for it."

Draco tilted his head, remembering something he’d seen once upon a time. “In a memory of Chloe's I saw her telling you that the reason she was his favorite wasn't because of ‘ _her’_ , which made me believe you two knew the reason."

"You've gone through her memories?!" Rosier’s eyes were wide in shock and reproach, her voice screechy.

"That doesn't matter now, Rosier. Think." He glared, refusing to be shamed by the person who had upped and abandoned the girls (who she swore were like her sisters) with someone she knew capable of human sacrifice. "What did Chloe mean when she said that?"

Rosier eyed him nervously before she blinked. "She thinks that she's his favorite because of her mother."

Both Zabini and Draco narrowed their eyes at that.

Rosier scratched her head, clearly uncomfortable with this train of topic. "Chloe's mom abandoned her and Mr Sulli-Greengrass. She, uh, she couldn't take life as a muggle. She hated muggles. Detested them, and having to be one drove her to near insanity." She nibbled on her bottom lip. "Chloe very recently found out that her mother returned to the wizarding world after abandoning them and tried to break Lord Voldemort's most faithful servants, Bellatrix included, out of Azkaban." Rosier took in a deep breath. “Apparently she was as bad at prison escapes as she was at blending in with muggles because she was captured and kissed by a Dementor for her actions."

Zabini leaned hard against the wall, folding his arms over his chest. "So Chloe thinks that because her mother showed such faithfulness to the Dark Lord even when he was thought to be dead, that he favors her in return."

"That's ridiculous," Draco snarled, unable to believe that Chloe actually thought that the Dark Lord valued that sort of sacrifice. "Countless have died in his name and he doesn't favor their children. That is not the reason. She's useful to him. Very useful. Otherwise she'd be as dispensable as the rest of us."

“Can you think of any other reason why she might be his favorite?” Zabini asked Rosier carefully, apparently still treating her like glass. “It might seem inconsequential, but even if it’s the littlest of things it might help us figure out why he favors her and what sort of purpose he has for her - which would in turn help us rule out what he might want Gaunt for.”

Rosier bit her thumbnail as she thought about it long and hard, really taking far too long if you asked Draco. She looked between the two of them, clearly not sure of anything by this point. “I don’t know what to say, there really isn’t any one thing that stands out. We were all terrified of the Dark Lord when we first met him, we’d all had nightmares of him before we actually met him and it was like discovering the boogeyman was real, but Chloe got over it quickly. Maybe that’s it? Maybe he likes the fact that she got over his deformity very easily? I don’t know!”

“What sort of nightmares did you use to have about him?” Zabini asked curiously.

“I don’t even remember, if I’m being honest,” Rosier admitted, scratching her head once more in what now seemed to be a nervous tick. “I just remember that I used to have those nightmares, and that they were different than Lois and Chloe’s but they all featured _him_.” She laughed darkly. “A part of me can’t blame him for raising me for sacrifice, I wouldn’t want to look like him either, not if I didn’t have to - not if there was a way to get back how I was supposed to look. According to Bellatrix he used to be incredibly handsome, that all the girls and quite a bit of the boys were in love with him. It must suck for him to look in the mirror and see what he’s become - more snake than human.”

A sound outside caused them to jump, but it was just the sound of a bird cawing it the distance.

Zabini let out a breath of relief, putting down the wand he’d drawn on instinct. "We have to get you out of here and somewhere safer. If we could find you then the others will be able to as well, even if they don't know you as well as I do."

Rosier and Zabini exchanged a sickeningly tender look that made Draco just want to hurl.

"Where exactly do you suppose she could be safe?" Draco sneered as he put his own wand back away in his robes. "They're going to find her, I’m surprised they haven’t already. They have eyes and ears all over the Wizarding World."

"Exactly." Zabini nodded his agreement as he pushed away from the cave wall. "Which is why we will be hiding out in the muggle world… just not in Smallville. I’m honestly surprised that they have not found her as yet given she’s here in her home town.”

" _We_?" Rosier’s eyes widened as she turned on the bed to face him, clearly shocked at this turn of events. She also did not seem to have noticed his slight critiquing of her hiding place, or if she did, she hadn’t really cared.

Zabini smiled, which was really terrifying because Zabini did not smile. "You didn't think I'd let you go by yourself, did you?" He moved towards her, his robes billowing all around him. "I'm going with you and I'll protect you."

Rosier shook her head as she stumbled off of the bed and hurried towards him, meeting him partway. "You can't! If they know you're helping me you'll be labeled a traitor and they'll come after you too!"

"It doesn't matter." Zabini gripped her hands, pulling her in close. "I won't let you out of my sight ever again."

Rosier looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

Draco seriously felt nauseas. These two were just too much to bear. How were these actual human beings and not soppy characters in some torrid romance book? “If you want to throw your lot in with the bint, fine. But we need a way to keep in touch without endangering either party. That way you can tell me if you find anything out, and I can tell _you_ if I do."

"I've already thought of that." Zabini pulled out something from his robes... two somethings, actually. "I came prepared." He turned to Rosier and smiled softly. "I already knew when I came here that I wouldn't leave you. It’s the only reason I went back for this arse instead of just going through the wards myself - I needed to prepare things for us.”

"Oh Blaise…” she whispered, clearly about to swoon any second now.

Draco snatched one of the things from Zabini and sneered, wanting to get this over with and be as far away from them before the swooning could begin. "A _Sweetheart_ Scroll? _That_ is your answer?"

"What can I say? You inspired me." Zabini grinned, not seeming at all bothered by his attitude all of a sudden.

Draco turned his gaze on Rosier and made a face. "I am _not_ kissing her."

"You sure as hell aren't!" Zabini agreed, grabbed Draco's robes, and pulled him in for a two-second kiss before both boys pulled apart and spat out as they rubbed their hands and robes against their lips in utter distaste.

"YOU BLOODY IDIOT!" Draco rubbed his robes against his lips and spat out multiple times. "You violated me!"

"It wasn't a pleasant experience for me either, Malfoy." Zabini's face was made up in scorn. "But now the scrolls will work and we can communicate."

Rosier’s eyes were wide on them, apparently still in shock.

Rubbing his lips with his sleeve once more, Draco made a sound of disgust as he slipped the Sweetheart Scroll into his inner pocket. He didn’t say goodbye to Zabini and Rosier. No. He Apparated away, making use of his time to buy some things in the market place so that no one was suspicious when he returned home later.

He shouldn’t have bothered, no one noticed his return.

No.

They were all hanging on Viktor Krum’s every word as he recounted the events of one of his championship games. Lucius didn’t even look like he was pretending to be interested at all, his eyes wide. He liked to remind everyone Draco had been a fan of Krum’s during childhood but _clearly_ Lucius was the real fanboy here. Narcissa merely kept eyeing Viktor with female appreciation, finding little excuses to pat him on his muscled arms. Chloe sat next to the Bulgarian, her hands folded on her lap, her back straight, her gaze on Viktor’s face as a small smile tilted her lips. But it was her eyes that Draco noticed. They were glazed over. 

She was bored as hell.

The realization made him smirk, feeling much better about this. The tease wasn’t as interested in Viktor as she wanted everyone to think. _Good_. 

When Viktor turned his head to talk to Chloe the glaze left her eyes and she focused on him as she smiled and answered with the vagueness of someone who hadn’t actually been listening. Viktor didn’t notice, of course he didn’t, he didn’t know Chloe the way Draco did. The Bulgarian seemed more than pleased with her answer and went back to conversing with Lucius.

Chloe sighed and then noticed Draco. Immediately her gaze was alert, a soft blush on her cheeks as she smiled at him, mouthing a ‘welcome back’.

Leaning against the doorway, Draco smirked as he eyed her, motioning in Viktor’s direction with his head and making up his face.

Chloe’s lips twitched as she shook her head at him in reproach. 

Krum turned to her.

Her gaze shifted to him immediately.

Draco’s smirk slipped from his face as he turned and went upstairs to his room before his bad mood could return.

 

**TBC**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville/Harry Potter**

**Sequel to: Chloe Sullivan & The Slytherin Princes**

**6/8**

—

Draco couldn’t believe what was happening right now. Sure, his father had made no secret of the fact that they were after Viktor Krum, but to stoop to this level? Did he have no shame? No pride? Lucius Malfoy had done many a questionable thing while in the Dark Lord’s service, but never had he done something so utterly reprehensible. _How_ was acquiring Viktor Krum’s service to the Dark Lord worth picnicking with _the Weasleys_?

I mean, _sure_ , they weren’t exactly picnicking _with_ them, but they were attending the same event as them, and due to their apparent need to stay next to Viktor like some sort of tick - and factoring in his friendship with Mudblood Granger - and _her_ friendship with the aforementioned Weasley… their picnic area ended up being cast next to the Weasley family, with Krum sat in the middle like some territory being fought over by feuding neighboring tribes.

This was incredibly pathetic.

Not only were the Weasleys there, though, but Granger was there, and worst of all, so was Harry Bleedin’ Potter. And what was worse? Potter kept trying to strike up a conversation with a visibly nervous and wary Chloe. Sure, she played the shy debutant, but Draco knew that she was deeply terrified of Harry Potter. This must be torture for her. The worse part was that, with this play for Krum, Draco wasn’t able to tell Potter to just _sod off_ like he wanted to.

“I have to admit, I’ve always been intrigued with Ilvermorny,” Granger announced as she took a bite out of a biscuit Weaslette had passed her. “What’s it like there? And what house are you in?” There was an odd tone in her voice.

Draco glanced over at Chloe, wondering exactly how she was going to pull it off. It only made sense to say she was attending the American school given her accent, but just how well had she studied up on the “American Hogwarts” as his father referred to the American school of witchcraft and wizardry?

“Oh, it’s amazing. It’s located on the top of the highest peak of Mount Greylock in Massachusetts. The view is breathtaking, especially in the morning, when the sky is still pink. It’s not as grand as Draco’s much-bragged-about Hogwarts, I mean, it was once a stone house which eventually became a school. The cottage kept expanding until it became a castle, but you can tell it’s a bit more rustic. I like to think of it as more homey, but Uncle Lucius keeps saying I need to transfer to Hogwarts and attend _‘a real’_ wizarding academy,” Chloe replied with amazing ease. Had Draco not known the truth he wouldn’t have been able to tell it was a lie. “And as for your question about my house, I’m from Horned Serpent - it’s meant to represent the mind of a witch or warlock, and favors scholars.” 

“So basically Ravenclaw,” Potter surmised from where he sat far too close to Chloe. He’d kept scooting over closer and closer to her every time she’d turned her attention away from him, and merely smiled innocently at her whenever she’d look back at him, the girl visibly wondering whether he’d moved since the last time she’d looked at him every time he did it.

Chloe gave him a tremulous smile. “Not exactly, we don’t quite have direct comparisons with Hogwarts houses, but I suppose that it would be closest to Ravenclaw, yes.”

“Horned Serpent sounds more like Slytherin if you ask me,” Weasel declared through a mouthful of crumpet.

Chloe smiled as she tilted her head, seeming more at ease with him for some reason. “Well, I _am_ a Malfoy. I probably would be disowned should it be any other way.”

Weasel snickered and raised the little bit of crumpet not stuffed in his mouth up in the air as if toasting to that.

Granger glanced between the two of them before clearing her throat and leaning closer to Chloe. “I hear that the house crest is really quite lovely.”

“It is.” Chloe nodded and took a moment to have a sip of her tea before continuing. “It’s in the shape of a Gordian Knot, which alludes to Rionach Sayre’s - one of our founders -brooch that was saved from a fire by her daughter Isolt.”

“You sure know a lot,” Weasel declared, bits of crumpet flying about.

Chloe took another long sip of her tea. “You shouldn’t be ignorant about anyone or anything, ever.”

Granger and Potter exchanged looks that Draco didn’t like one bit.

Weasel, on the other hand, smiled brightly at Chloe and once more toasted with his last bit of crumpet to her. 

Potter, weight on his palm, leaned in ridiculously close to Chloe, shocking her into staying very _very_ still, for a split second she looked almost too terrified to breathe, but apparently Potter didn’t realize that because he just smiled at her. “Have you ever thought about transferring to Hogwarts? You’d probably end up in Ravenclaw.”

Chloe’s green gaze was glued to Potter’s equally green one, her body stiff, her grip on her teacup trembling so hard it was a good thing that she’d nearly finished it otherwise the tea would be spilling all over her. “As I said before, I’d pr-probably be disowned should I not enter Slytherin and, t-to be honest who needs that sort of pressure?”

Potter’s gaze lowered to her grip on the teacup and then rose up to her eyes once more. “Are you cold?” He placed his hand on hers.

Just what the _hell_ did Potter think he was doing? And since when did he actually have the balls to do something so forward? Draco knew all about how _terrible_ the Boy Who Lived was with the ladies, it was about the only just thing in the world, so what had suddenly happened to make Harry Potter so _brazen_?

Honestly, Draco was proud of himself for not hexing Potter then and there, and it was only because his father had reached out and gripped his hand subtly in a ‘don’t you dare’ move. Lucius obviously didn’t trust Draco because he continued to grip his hand, refusing to let go of him.

“J-just a little.” Chloe’s face scrunched in pain seconds before she lowered her head, blocking Potter’s face from Draco’s gaze, which was probably for the best because Draco was really _this_ close to shoving his father away and getting the hexing started. She slipped her hand free and brought it to her head, clearly trying to ride out the pain. “I guess I have yet to get used to the weather here, it’s warmer where I’m from.”

“Would you like me to cast a warming charm on you?” Granger offered as she pulled out her wand from inside of her robes.

Immediately Chloe’s hands went up, her eyes wide in absolute terror before she forced out a little laugh. “I’m fine! Thank you!”

“Are you sure?” Granger asked curiously, a very faint hint of concern in her tone. “I really wouldn’t mind.”

“Yes, but thank you for the offer.” The blonde smiled once more and put her teacup down on the blanket, clearly so that it wouldn’t give her nerves away again. “Viktor told me that he met you all during the Tri-Wizard tournament. I’ve never been to one but I know the basics of the inter-school competition so I’m intrigued by it all, it must’ve been exciting to actually live through.”

Weasel and Potter exchanged looks.

“It was frightful, really,” Granger declared with a look towards Viktor, her lips twitching in amusement. “Viktor kept coming into the library and ruining my study time because of his fan girls, who all giggled nonstop. I couldn’t concentrate on _any_ of my studies.”

“I ‘ave already said sorry, Herm-own-ninny, _sorry_ ,” Viktor said with a little pout, yet still looked apologetic. “I could not get girls to stop following me.”

Chloe raised an eyebrow, the teasing very clear in her tone when she uttered out a: “You poor thing, how did you _ever_ manage to handle such a _horrible_ situation as having millions of girls fawning all over you?”

“I know, right?” Granger snickered as she finally put her wand away. “Whenever I have problems in my life it helps me to remember that Viktor has it _so much worse_ than I do. There is _true_ suffering in this world, and yet despite his horrible lot in life, Viktor remains strong.” Granger sighed in mock sympathy. “He is a paragon of virtue and fortitude in times of distress.”

Chloe was clearly surprised at the display of humor, and openly stared at Granger in intrigue.

Krum glanced between the girls with a growing yet clearly delighted smile. “You tease me?”

“Yeah, we are,” Granger giggled. 

Chloe finally managed to tear her intrigued gaze from Granger and cleared her throat, turned to Krum, and then said very slowly: “ _Vie ste zabavno da drazni_.”

Krum’s eyes widened. “You remember!”

“Well, I did ask you to teach me some Bulgarian.” Chloe smiled, the perfectionist in her pleased with having said it correctly. “And you _are_ fun to tease.”

Honestly, Draco wasn’t sure whether he wanted to hex Potter or Krum by now. Maybe the both of them. But how to get away with it or at least make it seem accidental?

“You and Herm-own-niny vould quickly learn my language I think, I teach you both in no time,” Krum declared as he leaned into Chloe, a large grin on his face. “You two are smartest people I know.”

“Thank you, Viktor.” Granger blushed yet was visibly proud of that praise. “That’s very sweet of you to say. Your English is also getting much better _very quickly._ ”

Krum beamed at the praise and the girl gifting it to him.

Draco raised an eyebrow curiously as he eyed the way Granger and Krum smiled at each other.

_Well well well_ ** _wellllll_** _. What do we have here? Does Krum still have a thing for Granger?_

Well, they _had_ gone to the Yule Ball together, had they not? _And_ Draco had learnt after the fact that apparently while he wasn’t competing in the tournament, Krum had apparently been trailing after Granger all over Hogwarts like some lovesick First Year. Things had seemingly fizzled out between them romantically as far as Draco knew, with nothing more happening between them but a friendship and Krum leaving a kiss on Granger’s cheek when he’d left to return to his own school. But what if Draco was wrong? What if they were actually…?

_Then why is he bothering Chloe?_ He clenched his fists, his intrigue turning back to annoyance. _If the idiot Bulgarian is yours, Granger, pull him in damned line! You’re more than capable of that!_

Weasel pouted and swallowed the rest of his crumpet, finally.

Draco shifted his gaze back on Chloe and noticed that she had realized the same as him. Her green eyes were narrowed very subtly on Granger and Krum, who were smiling at each other with annoyingly tender regard, leaning instinctively towards each other despite the fact that they sat on opposite sides of the picnic blanket. Chloe tilted her head, intrigue coloring her face, before surprising jealousy and longing flashed very momentarily in her eyes.

That expression really clenched something in Draco’s gut. Why the hell was she jealous of the mudblood and the idiot?

Chloe’s gaze shifted towards where Draco sat a good distance from them (as he would normally never be near the Trio to do so now would cause suspicion), her lips pursed in the beginnings of a pout as she stared at his hands for some weird reason. She noticed that his father had a grip of his forearm, and then her gaze went to her own hands as she huffed and clenched them tightly before looking away, her unhappiness clearly growing.

Draco tilted his head in confusion as he forgot to pretend he wasn’t watching her.

For some reason Chloe chose to look back at him once more, this time raising her gaze to meet his, and her green eyes widened when she realized he was watching her. Embarrassment at having been caught flushed across her cheek bones, yet a small smile twitched the corners of her lips.

Instead of smiling back, because Malfoys did not _smile_ , Draco instead let his gaze rest heavily over her, almost able to feel her under the intensity of his gaze. When he finally looked back into her eyes he couldn’t hold back his smirk at the way her expanded pupils betrayed her inner reaction to his nearly physical caress, as did the shiver that raced through her body. His witch was so incredibly affected by him that it honestly gave him an ego boost every time he realized it.

“You’re shivering again.” Suddenly Harry Potter took off his jacket and rested it around her shoulders. “Are you sure you’re not coming down with something?”

In seconds Chloe’s eyes widened, her pupils constricted, and she grabbed a trembled hold on the jacket, about to throw it off, but stopped before she could do so because she’d turned towards Potter, clearly realizing she was giving him her back and making herself more vulnerable than she already was… but the action had a very unintended consequence. Chloe found herself not only face to face with Potter, but their faces were _so_ close to each other that the tips of their noses were actually touching.

If they were any closer they’d be kissing.

Despite talking with Narcissa and not seeming to be at all paying attention to what was happening, Lucius’ grip tightened painfully on Draco’s arm in a matter of seconds.

Chloe and Potter both gulped as they stared into each other’s eyes, hers filled with terror and looking like an animal cornered by a predator on the kill, his oddly clouded over. Their lips were parted, their breaths slightly panted, it didn’t seem like arousal yet it was more than obvious to anyone watching that those two were reacting quite physically to each other. Beads of sweat began to drip down Potter and Chloe’s faces and necks despite the chilly day, they both shivered, and when Potter shifted his face almost imperceptibly, the action causing their noses to brush more firmly against each other, both his and her eyes closed tightly at the very same time.

_Pull away. Pull away from her! You too! Pull away from him!_

Almost as if she’d heard those angry thoughts, Chloe pulled away and glanced down, her hands gripping the blanket, seeming to have forgotten Potter’s jacket was still around her. She stared at Potter - who still had his eyes closed - before she shifted her gaze passed the others to find Draco. There was fear and confusion in those green eyes, as well as clear pleading.

Draco immediately yanked his arm free from his father’s unforgiving hold, jumped to his feet, and ignored the warning look Lucius sent him as he strode to where Chloe was. He stared down at her as she tilted her head upwards to look up at him as he loomed over her, his gaze hungrily feasting on her, before he finally held his hand out to her. “Come with me, _cousin_ , I need to show you that thing we talked about.”

“Right. That thing.” The relief was obvious in those green eyes as she took his hand with only thinly veiled desperation, allowing him to pull her to her feet. “Sorry, I’ll be back in a bit.” She turned to the others with a sheepish smile, not seeming to realize she was leaning very much into Draco and clasping his hand so tightly it actually hurt. “Draco has something he needs to show me.”

“Don’t apologize to them, _cousin_ ,” Draco chuckled darkly, giving the trio an ugly look as he removed Potter’s jacket from around her shoulders and dropped it onto the blanket with no regard. “They’re just Gryffindors.” And with that he led her away, ignoring the glares on his back. He curled Chloe’s arm around his, bringing her closer to him and wrapping his cloak around as he led her away, leaning in so as to speak softer to her. “You owe me big time, father’s going to reprimand me once we get home.”

“ _Thank you_ ,” Chloe breathed in obvious relief now that they were away from the trio. “Was it me or did Harry Potter keep moving closer to me? And right now - how did we - how were we that close? I nearly kissed him! Was that—was he trying to intimidate me, _threaten_ me?” She held Draco’s arm tightly, clearly close to hyperventilating. “Do you think he somehow knows something’s off about my cover story and—?”

“Chloe, calm down, and don’t say anything yet.” He led her away from the picnic, slipping into the woods and switched to holding her hand as he led her deeper within. They would definitely be spending far more time than necessary away from Lucius and dear old Krum, but honestly Draco didn’t care about the telling off he’d receive once they returned home. If anything, he was relieved to be able to get Chloe away from Krum, away from Potter, and all to himself, even if only for a couple of moments while she composed herself.

He hated the fact that he’d been unable to do anything but watch from so far away. He hated the fact that he couldn’t do anything to put an end to this Viktor Krum farce. He hated the fact that he couldn’t Crucio Potter for suddenly being all touchy-feely with Chloe. He _hated_ having to watch Chloe barely containing her obvious terror and not be able to stop it, or at least be able to be there next to her so she wouldn’t seem all alone and unprotected amongst the lions.

His father was truly becoming a problem, one Draco would have to carefully consider how to best deal with, but he _would_ have to deal with him sooner or later. After today it seemed he’d be dealing with Lucius Malfoy sooner than later. This situation, as well as his father’s actions, could not be allowed to continue.

It was only while he was wondering how impervious his father might be to Imperio, that Draco realized Chloe had been very silent for the last ten or so minutes while they’d been walking deeper and deeper into the woods.

A quick glance behind him proved that she was still on edge, looking behind them over and over again with a confused look on her face.

“What is it?” He asked after what seemed like the hundredth time she’d glanced around.

“I feel like I’m being watched,” she mumbled uneasily.

He glanced around, not seeing anyone, and really, they’d be able to tell if there was someone around. “Potter’s really got you on edge.”

She glared up at him. “Not without good reason! He’s a murderer!”

Draco sighed, decided they’d gone in far enough, and turned, wrapping his arms around her tightly, realizing she was shivering. He rested his chin on the top of her head and enveloped her, feeling the way she tried to meld into him, both for warmth and comfort. Honestly, he’d never thought he’d ever be offering anyone comfort, ever, and wasn’t even sure what else he was supposed to do in a situation like this. “If you can’t do this you need to tell my father.”

“I _can_ do this,” Chloe whispered into his chest, voice muffled until she turned her head so she could speak clearly and rest her cheek against his heartbeat. “I just… Potter’s going to kill me one day, you know.”

Draco’s eyes narrowed at that surprising sentence. “Harry Potter is _not_ going to kill you one day.” He’d definitely not let him.

“Ever since your father took us from the Muggle world all we’ve been told is how Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore are evil monsters who would torture and kill us if they knew we existed. That was probably the first thing I was told right after ‘You’re a witch, Chloe!’” Chloe was still shivering. “It was hard enough being in Hogwarts with Potter, I barely had to interact with him, but to be thrown in with him like this? Have him this near to me? I’m _terrified_.” Her voice conveyed all the terror that must be on her face, but which Draco could not see given how they were standing. “I told you what I saw, Draco! Those women! And the babies! He _had_ to have been the one to kill that redhead who jumped in front of her baby to protect it from the Avada Kedavra! Why else would I see that when he grabbed my wrist in Hogwarts?” She was close to crying. “I thought I could do this, that I could be brave, but I’m _terrified_. He’s killed mothers who were trying to defend their babies’ lives! He might’ve even killed those babies afterwards! He killed Cedric Diggory just because he beat him to some damned cup in a stupid game Potter shouldn’t have even been able to participate in in the first place!” Her voice broke. “He’s a _monster!_ ”

“Chloe, you need to _calm down_.” Draco was honestly torn right now. He wanted to tell her the truth but if he did that it might cause a series of events he was not ready for as yet. If Chloe knew the truth about Voldemort, about what he was capable and more than willing to do, her reactions could be catastrophic. For one, she probably wouldn’t believe Draco and go to Voldemort himself for confirmation, and when she found out it was the truth—who knew what Voldemort would do to her? Would he tinker even more with her head or would he not find her worth the effort and do away with her? Either way, as the one who’d told her the truth, Draco would not be able to see her ever again - and that just couldn’t happen. It _couldn’t_. He’d lost her once and he wasn’t going to go through that _ever_ again, especially not now that he actually understood his feelings for her.

Because of all of that he couldn’t tell Chloe, not yet. Once he knew more, once he had some sort of a plan, _then_ he’d tell her the truth. Until then he’d just have to play along and try to gather what he needed as quickly as possible.

“I don’t understand why Viktor is friends with them,” Chloe whispered. “He seems genuinely nice. He’s also a Pureblood. How can he not _see_ what Harry Potter has _done_? The lives he’s destroyed?” She pulled away enough to look up at Draco, clearly very close to a breakdown. “Why does Potter hate Purebloods so much? Why does he want to destroy them and their values? I don’t understand it.He’s our age, a _kid_. What could possibly have made him so _evil_?”

Draco honestly had no idea what in the world had been fed to Chloe and the others during their stay at Riddle Manor, but he had a very good idea given how he’d seen Voldemort twist the events of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, feeding her a version of the story which still fit with public narrative, yet was incredibly skewed in his favor. Clearly, whatever knowledge Chloe had, it was all made up or had been perversely twisted. Harry Potter was a nuisance, he was self-righteous and thought way too much of himself, but he wasn’t _evil_ \- and yet she was utterly convinced of that fact.

“Look, you’re giving him way too much credit, he’s just a prat who’s luckier than any wizard should be,” Draco muttered, trying to play down everything in an effort to calm her down. “He’s the damned Boy Who Lived, and that’s gone to his head. He—.”

“The Boy Who Lived?” Chloe made a face in confusion. “Why would you call him that? What does that even mean?”

Ah, it made sense that if Voldemort hadn’t told her about his attempted murder on baby Potter he wouldn’t have mentioned the nickname Potter had been given by the Wizarding community as a whole thanks to that failed assassination. Draco was going to have to navigate this with caution. “It just means that no matter how much trouble he gets in, no matter what he does, he always survives it.”

Chloe made up her face. “Then _I_ should be the Girl Who Lived given how many attempts at my life I survived before even finding out that the Wizarding World existed.”

Not liking the reminder, Draco frowned and held her tighter.

“It’s weird because I’ve never thought to ask these questions before, and I don’t know _why_ ,” Chloe admitted, looking very confused as she did so, apparently having accepted his explanation for Potter’s nickname. “But it’s like, just by sitting close to Harry Potter, it’s like suddenly I have _all these questions I need answering_. I’ve never really cared to know all of this before despite, well, I would’ve before, but for some reason I suddenly _need to know_.” Her breathing was getting ragged. “I don’t understand any of this. So many things suddenly don’t make sense. _They don’t make sense_! **_Why_** don’t they make sense?”

Wait.

Hadn’t Rosier said something about Chloe not asking questions ever since Voldemort had gotten his hands on her? Or not asking the _right_ questions? Was this what she’d meant? And if so… did this mean that there was something about being in proximity with Harry Potter that had somehow, somewhat, _undone_ that? What the hell was so special about Harry Bleeding Potter? What was his connection to all of this? To Chloe?

“Chloe, you’re on the verge of a panic attack,” Draco announced as he grabbed her by her shoulders. “You’ve got to pull yourself together.” He’d never seen her this unraveled before, and to be completely honest it kind of scared him. “We’re at a picnic, there’s tons of witnesses, not even Potter would be dumb enough to attack you. Okay? He loves being a hero in everyone’s eyes so he won’t do anything to jeopardize that. You’re safe.” He stared into her eyes. “And if he’s dumb enough, I’ll strike him down before he can even try.”

“What if he has Lana?” Chloe’s eyes filled with tears. “What if he’s tortured and killed her too? Like he did Bellatrix? He’s murdering _everyone_! Draco! Why is he still allowed to be in school? To be around other people? Why does no one act like it’s _weird_? Why does he get to be out and about but _we_ have to be scared, in hiding, pretending to be people we’re not out of fear of losing our lives? We haven’t _done_ anything, Draco! We haven’t hurt anyone! He’s murdered! I don’t—I don’t _understand_. It doesn’t—it doesn’t _make sense_.”

Draco was honestly more scared than he’d been in his whole life. What the bloody hell had being that close to Harry Potter for such an extended period _done_ to her? It was as if some sort of leak had sprung inside of her, from which all the questions she’d subconsciously had were slipping through.It really wasn’t the questions that scared him though, it was the terrified and desperate look in her eyes. She wasn’t just scared, she was petrified, and confused, and…

He pulled her into his arms once more, holding her tightly as she trembled viciously against him. What the hell had Voldemort _done_ to her? How could Draco undo whatever had been done to her? _Could_ it be undone?

“I saw things again when he touched me,” Chloe admitted shakily as she gripped tightly to Draco. “It was quick, again, but I know what I saw… even though I don’t _know_ what I saw.”

“You’ve lost me,” he admitted in confusion. “What exactly did you see when that prat touched you?”

“When he touched my hand I saw him _burn_ a man to death just by _touching_ him,” Chloe whispered in utter terror. “I didn’t see him use a wand, Draco. He was young, maybe eleven. There was something near him, I think it was a stone. There was fire all around them. He touched the man’s face and it… burned away before the man’s whole body crumbled to ash.”

Draco’s eyes widened.

Had she seen Professor Quirrell’s _death_? Clearly she hadn’t seen Voldemort’s face behind Quirrell’s head, but this was… this was a pattern. She’d first seen Voldemort’s first attempt on Potter’s life as a baby, and then his second attempt on Potter’s life while possessing Professor Quirrell’s body. 

But _why_?

Why was she seeing these events?

No _wonder_ she was terrified right now!

“And then, when we were face to face I… What sort of monster _is he_?” Chloe whispered as she clutched Draco tightly. “He’s a murderer - a _murderer_ \- ever since he was a _child_! How—why—he should be in Azkaban! Not around others! Not around _children!_ There are _children_ in Hogwarts, Draco! Children! He’s killed—! How can—? None of this makes sense! Why am I the only one confused why he’s free? Why does no one act as if they’re afraid of him? _I don’t understand,_ Draco!”

“Chloe, you need to calm down, you’re getting too worked up!”

“I don’t want to die like that,” Chloe sobbed desperately into his robes. “ _I don’t want to die like that!_ ”

Pulling out his wand, Draco pointed it at her and whispered: “ _Somni_.” Immediately he caught her as she collapsed into his arms, asleep. He put away his wand and quickly arranged her in his arms so she was cradled there, her head resting against his heart, her face pale yet streaked with tears. 

Sighing, Draco contemplated whether to just Side-Along Apparate home or whether to go back with her like this and try to explain her sudden sleepy state. 

A twig cracked somewhere in the woods.

He looked up and frowned, instinctively Side-Along Apparating away back to the relative safety of Malfoy Manor, where he put Chloe to bed and told Trixie to change her into something more comfortable. He sent a message to his father explaining that Chloe felt ill, before pulling out his new Sweetheart Scroll and writing in it.

 

**_Zabini, whatever you two are doing to find out answers, do it quicker. I think Potter’s mere presence unraveled something in her and she had a bloody nervous breakdown right in front of me. I had to spell her asleep to calm her before she - I don’t know - had a heart attack or something._ **

 

**_Tell Rosier I think Potter’s presence is somehow important - and I hate saying anything about him is important so know that things are dire here. Whenever she is near Potter she feels pain, and he’s touched her three now - and it appears each time she’s seen things - such the first two times You Know Who tried to kill Potter. She started to tell me what the third was but she didn’t seem capable of getting it out._ **

 

**_There has to be some reason for this. It has to be important somehow._ **

 

**_You two better not be honeymooning and forgetting about what’s going on over here._ **

 

**_Draco_ **

 

**_PS - No one seems to realize you are missing yet. Obviously no one here cares about you._ **

 

Hearing his father and mother’s voices, the two clearly having returned the second they’d gotten the message, Draco rolled up the scroll and placed it in his robes before going out to greet them.

 

**TBC**


	7. Chapter 7

When Chloe awoke later that day she'd been back to normal, just a little fuzzy as to what exactly had happened after they'd left the group. She could apparently remember what she'd seen when Harry touched her, but the landslide of questions and doubts that had caused her quick spiral seemed to be completely gone, long forgotten in the mire of her mind. Draco didn't know whether to be worried or relieved.

He  _was_  worried, however, of what to do once he had to return to Hogwarts. To say he wasn't looking forwards to it was putting it mildly. Not only would he not be around in case something else happened to her (much less be able to keep track of exactly what his parents and the Dark Lord were plotting for her) but he'd gotten used to seeing and interacting with Chloe on a day to day basis. This was going to be like when she'd left Hogwarts, but ten times worse because back then each kiss and touch had been for a calculated reason, whereas now…

A hand reached out from a dark room in Malfoy Manor and yanked Draco inside, and it was only his lifelong training that kept him from squeaking out loud. It was a good thing too, because Chloe looked pleased enough as it was and would never have let him live it down if he'd flailed around or, Merlin forbid,  _squeaked_. Draco opened his mouth to say something witty and acerbic which would no doubt start their banter - which he'd quickly realized was actually their own version of foreplay - when she silenced him by wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.

Back hitting the wall, Draco grinned into the kiss and wrapped his own arms around her body, pulling her in close. While his hands  _wanted_  to run up and down the back of her gown, he couldn't leave any more evidence of this than he had to - unlike in Hogwarts they weren't flaunting each kiss and caress, they had to keep them hidden. It annoyed the hell out of him that his  _parents_  were his biggest enemies. He  _might've_  put a little bit of his ire into the kiss, but from the way Chloe whimpered and tightened her grip on him she didn't seem to mind.

Turning them around, Draco pressed her against the wall, trapping her against it and his body as he tilted her head up further so he could better plunder her mouth.

He wanted to be able to fully enjoy this kiss, especially given the way Chloe had instigated it, but his mind kept flashing back in worry to her state earlier on in the day. She'd been terrified and manic, clearly unstable. Honestly, madness ran in the Black family - just look at how batty Aunt Bellatrix had been - so that actually wasn't really what worried him. If Chloe were a touch mad that just meant she was very much a member of the Black family. What  _did_  bother Draco as the fact that it wasn't truly her Black heritage to blame, it was Voldemort, and whatever he was doing in her head. The Dark Lord mightn't currently be able to go through her each and every thought like he used to, but clearly he still had some sort of access to her mind, and was using it each time she was called to see him, or each time he visited her.

Rosier clearly had a point, Voldemort was tinkering with Chloe's mind and shifting it to better suit whatever plans he had for her. Just look at how she'd reacted to Rosier's plight after her last visit to Riddle Manor. She'd gone from trembling with pleas for Rosier's life to swearing she'd be the one to kill Rosier should the time come.

What if Voldemort got access of Chloe's mind and saw just how close Draco and her had gotten despite his clear disapproval? What if the next time Draco saw her  _he_  was the one her feelings had changed for because of the Dark Lord's damned tinkering? What if she turned her back on him, in distaste or disinterest, and was engaged happily to Krum or anyone else Voldemort found more worthy?

The thought was terrifying.

" _Trixie does not mean to interrupt_ ," Trixie whispered softly, causing both of them to pull apart. The House Elf ignored Draco's glare while looking up at Chloe, clearly aiming to please. "Trixie merely wants to warn that Master and Mistress are near."

Chloe peeked around Draco to smile at the House Elf, a blush clearly covering her cheeks from having been caught. "Thanks Trixie, what would I do without you?"

The House Elf beamed.

Draco raised an eyebrow. He'd noticed Chloe gravitating towards Trixie during his time there, whenever Chloe had to use a House Elf for anything she usually went to the runt of Malfoy Manor, and it appeared Trixie had quite taken to the attention.

Chloe turned to Draco and, despite her clear embarrassment due to their audience, pressed another soft kiss to his lips. "Sorry for apparently being a bother earlier at the picnic."

"Well, if this is how you're going to repay me, go ahead and be a bother daily," he gave her immediate permission.

She grinned and slipped out of his grip, reaching out her hand to Trixie, no doubt about to leave him, when she looked back at Draco in confusion.

It was only then that he realized he'd reached for and gripped her wrist to keep her with him.

Chloe tilted her head to the side as she eyed him in silent question.

Draco's stomach twisted in hideous fear. What if they took this from him? What if these stolen moments were all he'd get? Sure, he'd make new Sweetheart scrolls and make sure to keep in contact with her while they were apart, but he wouldn't be here, wouldn't even know if-. What if the next time he saw her, whenever he returned from Hogwarts, she wasn't here anymore? What if she'd graduated from the classes his parents were giving her? What if Voldemort had married her off? What if he'd merely sequestered her in Riddle Manor so he could keep playing with her mind until it completely broke?

What if Draco lost her before he could truly even begin to understand what it meant to have her?

He tightened his grip on her subconsciously.

"Draco, what's wrong?" Chloe asked softly, concern written all over her face.

"I like you." The words were surprisingly easy somehow as he stared into her face, all his doubts and worries congealing within into something terrifyingly ugly.

Chloe's eyes widened incredibly large before she smiled in a way he'd never seen before, the smile even obvious in her eyes. She returned to his side, shifting his grip on her wrist so they were now holding hands, fingers clasped together, as she looked up at him through her eyelashes, her face covered in a deep blush. "I like you too."

He'd known, but it still sent a jolt through his body to hear the actual words.

Draco gulped as he shifted to fully face her, pulling her into his embrace as he buried his face in her hair and kept her so tightly close it might hurt her, but he was too afraid to let go, to ease up even a little.

"Thank you for saying it," Chloe whispered into his chest. "I know it's not something you're used to, you've probably never actually said those words before to anyone or anything, so I understand it was hard and that you made an effort." She smiled against his chest and pressed a soft kiss to his heart. "I don't know why you did it, why now, but  _thank you_." She nuzzled her face against him. "I needed to hear that."

Tightening his grip on her, Draco shifted to speak roughly into her ear. "I like you." He could feel the shiver that raced through her body at those whispered words, could hear the gasp from her lips, sensed the clenching in her fists in his shirt as she arched into him. " _I like you_." He couldn't stop himself from whispering the words, almost accusingly, his lips brushing against her ear with each one. " _I_ ** _like_** _you._ " Her breathing was erratic, her hands and body trembling, and the fact that his words alone could affect her this much should be gratifying, should be smugly pleasing, but Draco felt nothing but gripping fear. " ** _I like you_**."

"I like you  _so much_ ," Chloe whispered shakily, tilting her head back, eyes half-lidded and clearly asking to be kissed.

So he kissed her. It was rough and hard and desperate, yet Chloe was no fragile flower, kissing him just as hard and needy and demanding. Like always, she met his arrogance and demands with passion and resilience. From the very beginning she'd been the only person who could match him, yet now it was even better.

He couldn't lose this.

Couldn't lose her.

 _Refused_  to lose her.

Not to Krum.

Not to Potter.

Not to Voldemort.

Not to  _anyone_.

He had to change how he was playing this game. He had to—had to—.

Draco pulled away enough to rest his forehead against hers and stare down into her half-lidded eyes. "I will  _never_  forgive you if you become affianced, or get too close to Krum or anyone else while I'm not around, no matter  _who_  tells you to."

Surprise and a little confusion flittered over her features, before they were chased away by a pleased and amused little smile. "Of course you wouldn't, everyone knows Draco Malfoy does not  _share_." She tilted her head up to brush her nose softly against his. "Were you worried about that?" Her smile grew, as did her blush. "Draco… I don't like sharing either." That blush darkened further on her skin. "So, all things considered, it makes sense that we should just agree, right here and now, that neither of us are willing to share the other with someone else."

"The Dark Lord—."

"I'm doing my best, Draco, to help you rise in his favor, and I'll continue to do so, I'll wear him down. When I promised you in Hogwarts that I would do so it wasn't  _just_  for altruistic reasons you know." She lowered her head, her blush creeping down her neck. "I  _want_  him to find you worthy, not just so you aren't looked down on anymore." She gulped and looked back up at him, incredibly shy all of a sudden. "When you graduate from Hogwarts, we should work together to help the Old House of Black regain some of its past prestige. It might be Olde and Great, but the Black family really needs some new blood to bring it into this century."

His eyes widened and damn it, he might've blushed at what was implied there. Draco gulped, finding his throat dry. "Yes, well, if I have to be stuck with that sort of thankless job for the rest of my life you'll just have to do as an assistant."

Her lips twitched as she pressed up onto her tiptoes, bringing their faces much closer. "I prefer the term 'helpmate'."

Draco's whole mouth went dry as his stomach clenched and in seconds he had her against the wall again, this time not caring as his hands wrinkled up her gown from his rough, needy touches. The groans he swallowed proved Chloe didn't mind as she arched into him, drawing him just as close, her hands deep into his hair and gripping him tightly, as if afraid he'd stop kissing her or pull away. Maybe the Black madness was rearing its head in him as well, because Draco didn't care that he was in his parents' home or that he needed to keep his wits to him now more than ever. Instead he found himself fighting with the skirt of Chloe's long gown, cursing it silently, needing desperately to remove any barrier between them so he could mark her from within as his.

Chloe sobbed into his mouth and began to fight with his shirt, growling when it proved more difficult to remove than she'd obviously expected.

Draco smiled darkly against her kiss, hearing his own needy impatience, his dark hunger, in her growl.

" _Where_ ** _is_** _she_?" Lucius could be heard huffing somewhere down the hall, a door swinging open and then another one and another one. " _She should be resting, not traipsing around the manor_."

Draco snarled against Chloe's lips when she whimpered in utter distress at the sound of his father's voice. He'd never wanted to hex his father more than he did now as he pulled away and tried his best to fix the mess that she'd made of his hair. He turned his silvery gaze on her, and just  _seeing_  the heaving mess she was against the wall nearly was his undoing. "If you don't go now not even my father's presence will stop me from taking you."

Chloe's eyes widened, her blush deepened, and in a second she was against him, kissing him hungrily.

Damn it, Draco was going to do it. He didn't care anymore. And yet before he could push her back against the wall she pulled away and hurried to Trixie, hand outstretched.

"Please, Trixie!"

Trixie - he'd forgotten the House Elf was even there - grabbed Chloe's hand and in a second they were gone. This was the second time he'd seen Trixie assisting Chloe to move around without his parents' knowledge, and for a second he wondered if they did that a lot, but given the fact that he heard his father drawing closer, Draco had no time to really wonder.

Somehow he'd managed to get himself in control and somewhat decent, pretending to be peering out of the window by the time his father (and mother) turned on the light and peered into the room.

"Draco, darling?" Narcissa asked in surprise as she stepped into the room. "What were you doing here in the dark?"

He turned from where he stood with his hands in his pockets, staring out of the window. "I was thinking."

Lucius' eyebrow raised yet he didn't comment on that, instead he appeared to be glancing around the room subtly. He peeked around the sofa, peered around the grand piano, and then began to inspect the curtains around the windows.

"About what, honey?" Narcissa asked, sending her husband a confused look before she turned her gaze back on Draco. "You didn't need the darkness to think."

"I did, actually, it helped with… distractions." Draco cleared his throat, eyeing his father, before shifting his attention to his mother. "I have decided that I will marry Chloe once I graduate from Hogwarts."

His mother's eyes widened, and right before she brought her hand to her mouth he saw a slight hint of a smile.

"That is not for  _you_  to decide," his father declared loftily as he finally turned his attention from the room to his son. "Chloe's future will be decided by the Dark Lord. It is true that usually it would be Gabriel Greengrass who would decide such a match, as it would tie  _his_  house, but our Dark Lord has graced Greengrass with the privilege of letting his Lord and Master choose what house to unite with his own to further our cause."

"But Lucius, imagine if that house were  _ours_ ," Narcissa surprised Draco by saying this as she turned to her husband. "She is a Pureblood of good lineage, the Greengrass line might not be as pure as the Malfoy, but the  _Black_  has no reproach to it." Considering  _she_  had once been Narcissa Black, they all knew Lucius would not dare deny that claim. "You have  _seen_  the other options available at Hogwarts… and with Rosier missing Lois Gaunt would be our only other acceptable option - purity wise at least."

Lucius went pale. "Please, Narcissa, not even in  _jest_."

"They are obviously fond of each other, Lucius, and I find her delightful," Narcissa insisted with a little pout. "It is true that she is a little rough around the edges and does not share as staunch a belief in purity of blood and its dominance as we would prefer in a daughter-in-law, but it can be understood considering her upbringing amongst muggles."

"Narcissa, you seem to think  _I_  have an issue with the idea of their union," his father sighed, looking very put upon and tired. "I do not. She is a pain in the neck and has always lived to annoy me, but as you said, there is potential in her, and I understand the benefits of joining her house to our own. I have always also been quite fond of the Great and Olde House of Black, as you very well know." He raised an eyebrow as he eyed Draco judgmentally. "But our Lord has shown no interest in pairing Chloe with anyone as yet."

"Viktor Krum is no match for our importance or breeding," Narcissa surprised Draco even more by declaring stubbornly, proudly. "He's basically a Blood Traitor. What could he possibly have that we do not? What could he offer other than a crude insight on Harry Potter because of his friendship with the mudblood?"

"Darling," Lucius sighed as he once more turned his gaze on her. "You do not seem to be listening to me. Our Lord  _has no plans_  as of yet which involve Chloe's marital future. He has made brief mentions here and there of Lois being tied to Severus, which I truly believe were just him trying to terrify Severus with the very horrid thought, but he has made no mention of marriage for either Lana  _or_  Chloe."

Draco frowned in utter confusion. This was not the impression his father had given him earlier. "But you told me that you believed he wanted her to be trained to take over household duties.  _You said_  that you believed he was going to use her to win over someone who had yet to join the cause."

Lucius cleared his throat and raised his chin with a regal manner, peering down at them both. "I stand by that assumption, but I also know that while he wants the girl trained in much more than we had originally planned on teaching her, he has not yet mentioned a name he is considering as her prospective husband."

Then what the bloody hell were they doing with  _Krum?_

"I thought you believed Nott's son was in the running once," Narcissa mumbled.

"I did believe so at once time, but it does not seem to be the case, the Dark Lord was not impressed with Theodore Nott's inability to realize Chloe was in Hogwarts despite direct interactions with her," Lucius informed them haughtily, clearly proud to have this insider knowledge, as well as proud that Draco had discovered what Theodore hadn't. "Also, I do believe his top priority at the moment is finding out exactly what happened to Bellatrix, and whether Lana was involved or captured. Of course, finding Lana and bringing her back is also very high on his list of priorities as well."

Narcissa lowered her gaze for a moment, the only indication of the pain she might feel at having lost her sister, before she took in a deep breath and raised her gaze once more. "How goes the search?"

Lucius eyed his wife before sighing. "It appears more and more that Lana may have been the aggressor, and that she fled that night."

Other than clenching her hands at her sides, Narcissa did not visibly acknowledge the weight of those words.

"Until there is concrete evidence he is holding off on revealing this to Chloe and Lois," Lucius revealed as he brushed a strand of palest blonde hair out of his face. "It is a betrayal of the uttermost gravity. Those three were incredibly close, and to know that she would turn her back on them and go to the enemy… it will be a harsh blow. According to Severus, Lois refuses to believe Lana had any part in what happened, just as Chloe does, and both are quite sure the girl is being held captured and tortured someone by the Order. However, it seems much more likely now, given we found evidence of a magically warded home she had for herself in Smallville which was only recently deserted before it was discovered, that Lana is not being held captive. If anything, it appears she might have help in her escape." His gaze shifted to Draco. "Blaise Zabini, her pen pal during her time amongst the muggles, has also gone missing. The timing is far too convenient to ignore."

Draco raised an eyebrow, training his expression to one of disinterest. "You think Zabini helped her kill Aunt Bellatrix and escape." He sneered. "Figures Zabini would do something reckless like that, he was truly obsessed with her after she stopped writing him, he came to me, you know? He knew my pen pal was also from Smallville and was pathetically desperate to know whether I had heard from mine. It was only because of him that I even realized I had not heard from Chloe in a while, that she was missing."

Lucius eyed him in silence before finally nodding. "His mother  _did_  mention that he had become obsessed with the muggle girl. It would make sense that, after knowing she was one of the fold, he would find a way to get in touch with her… and with her having spent time in Hogwarts they definitely would have had time to reconnect and  _plan_." He huffed, clearly disgusted with them. "It does not matter any longer, our men are hot on their trail. They will be found much sooner than later, and when they do, we will know what truly happened."

Narcissa seemed eager to change the subject after silence fell over them. "Darling, you were telling me something when we checked in on Chloe and found her missing. What was it? You mentioned something about the Dark Lord being pleased?"

"Ah, yes!" Lucius smiled, his good mood suddenly returned to him. "Our Lord is very pleased with Chloe's progress, and the fact that she has graduated from what we would've normally taught her and is now progressing smashingly in her extracurricular activities has reminded him that he has yet to reward her for her excellent performance while at Hogwarts. It may be true that she was unable to completely finish what Severus would have taught her, but the fact that she discovered the existence of that Map, made followers out of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws,  _and_  was able to make a network of connections  _as well as_  discover that she'd been compromised while managing to get out of the situation by herself… He is more than pleased. Potions can easily be taught to that girl by merely giving her advanced books on the subject. Severus is no longer needed. As far as Lord Voldemort is concerned she has not only passed those exams but has outperformed any expectations - and after her frankly shocking success with Bellatrix his expectations were incredibly high to begin with."

"What did our Lord gift her with when she passed my sister's training?" Narcissa asked curiously, seeming to be able to put away any thought about her sister's circumstance.

"A brief visit with Gabriel," Lucius explained, surprising Draco, who'd wondered about the absence of Chloe's father. "He wanted to gift her with something a bit longer lasting this time, but was not quite sure how to go about it, as we all know, this would be something new for him." Lucius puffed out his chest. "I suggested a pet."

Narcissa blinked and shared a surprised look with Draco before turning her eyes on her husband. "A…  _pet_?"

"A useful one," Lucius went on to explain, still very proud of himself. "Our Dark Lord has noted how close Chloe and Nagini are, whenever she is at Riddle Manor Chloe inevitably ends up lavishing all manner of attention on the snake." He smiled and straightened. "When I first met those girls I transfigured a piece of furniture into a snake and she was  _terrified_  of it at first, and yet look at her now." Clearly he was praising himself, believing himself responsible for Chloe's friendship with Voldemort's pet.

To be honest, Draco was shocked to hear that Chloe and Nagini got along. The snake was terrifying, and very famously only cared for Voldemort. This went to prove just how often Chloe must've stayed at Voldemort's side for his pet to have not only grown accustomed to her presence but - if his father could be trusted - be  _fond_  of her.

"He was reticent until I explained myself," Lucius quickly continued, obviously very happy to boast. "I do not mean to get the girl a puppy or kitten, I offered him Trixie."

" _Trixie_?" Narcissa looked utterly horrified. "She is a measly  _House Elf_ , not a  _pet_  worthy of a Pureblooded lady! And she is our  _worse_  House Elf  _by far_! Why give Chloe  _Trixie_!? Was this not a  _reward?_ "

"Because, my dear, Chloe is a proper Pureblooded lady and she needs to have a House Elf of her own, it would help her better understand her studies and duties," Lucius schooled his wife in a sage tone before sighing. "Plus, let us be honest, dear, she will  _never_  treat that House Elf the way she should. Already the girl is fond of the creature, she will most definitely take her as a pet, or a companion, instead of a House Elf. I do not see the appeal but she clearly enjoys the thing's company. I've seen her…" Lucius took in a deep breath, as if this next part hurt him. "…I've seen her trying - in secret, mind you - to teach the thing to talk better, to  _educate_ her. It is fruitless, of course, but it would do Chloe well to have something to keep her busy and keep her mind off of… other things."

Narcissa nodded slowly, understanding.

So did Draco.

Trixie was the gift meant to distract Chloe from her worries about Lana.

Narcissa held her hand out to Lucius. "Come, Lucius, we have yet to find where Chloe is. We must tell her of her new...  _gift..._  and then send her straight back to bed. She should be resting."

"She is such a stubborn pain," Lucius sighed yet took his wife's hand and led her away, the two still searching their large manor for their charge.

Draco followed them to the door and watched them as they left, waiting until they turned the corner before closing the door and hurrying to the sofa. He pulled out his Sweetheart Scroll from his robes' inner pocket and was about to write in it when he realized that Zabini had written him back, so he quickly read the note left to him.

_Really Malfoy, can you not even correspond like a normal person? Pleasantries will_ **_not_ ** _hurt you._

_Anyway, what do you mean Potter's mere presence unraveled something in Chloe? Are you saying he's acting like a trigger for her mentally and emotionally? That sounds very odd. The pain, the physical reactions, the mental unravelling… What you're describing almost sounds like active spells coming in contact with each other and momentarily cancelling each other out, or reacting to the other, or something like that at least. Could this be what is happening to your girl and Potter? If so, what spells would they be and why are they reacting to each other like that? Why give her glimpses of Potter's life? Considering the more I speak to Lana the more I realize just how lied to and in the dark those girls were… I don't think You Know Who would put a spell on your girl that would give her insight on Potter. That would be the last thing he would do, so this is obviously an unintended side effect of something and not anything planned or designed._

_As to your comment on honeymooning, sure, there's nothing like running for your life to keep the libido jumping. You prat. We've had to leave the cave. There were Death Eaters in Smallville and they were getting very close to our hiding place. We've moved to Edge City, which is apparently incredibly seedy and dangerous on its own, but hopefully we'll be able to blend in easier and keep out of harm's way._

_Lana has amassed an incredible amount of obscure reading materials - I think she stole most of them from the Forbidden Section in the library at Hogwarts. I'm kind of turned on by the fact that she got away with that considering just how terrible she was at portraying Bulstrode or remembering to take her Polyjuice Potions and whatnot._

_Then again, I've noticed something odd about these books. Unlike what is usually in the Forbidden Section, these are copies, and they are not protected by spells. She said all the books in the Forbidden Section were like that but I've been there, that's not true. So that means every book in there must've been copied and the protection spells removed._

_It's almost as if someone_ **_wanted_ ** _her to be able to find and remove these books. But that would mean someone in Hogwarts knows and is secretly helping. This has me really wary because Lana only found out about the Forbidden Section in the library because she overheard Dumbledore talking to someone about the books in there and how they probably had answers to every question ever asked, but was that a coincidence or… or did Dumbledore_ **_know_ ** _?_

_Anyway. About the books. They confirm what she told us about Voldemort using her as a way to regain his old body, but it's not even just that. This will make him even more powerful because, well…_

_Draco, I think he has made Horcuxes. The deformations he's suffered… while they can definitely be attributed to his many dark magic rituals and such… they're classic when it comes to making Horcruxes… and they also explain how he survived the Avada when it failed to kill Harry and bounced back at him. They would've damaged him physically, and much more, because while it would definitely kind of give him a strange form of Immortality it would certainly rob him of much as well… but he'd get that back if he gets his hands on Lana. He'd have his Horcruxes… yet none of the deformities, as well as very little of the damage that usual comes with making them._

_I've also been going over Lana's childhood (as well as what she knows about Chloe's and Lois') to see if I can figure out the distinctions regarding them. It seems that even before their magic became activated there were odd things about the girls. Lana had an ability to attract mutants who kept falling in love with her and wanting to kill her - these were all mentally unstable people and you know what they say - that sometimes crazed muggles can sense our magic and react to it. I think they sensed the magic and power and whatever else You Know Who did to her as a child and craved that as their own, attributing it to love and desire, when really they just coveted it and wanted to destroy it if they couldn't have it. It makes sense. They're doing exactly what You Know Who is._

_Apparently Lois is more of a mystery since Lana didn't really know her before she became Lois Gaunt, but from what Lana knows Lois was always 'headstrong and kick ass'. I'm not exactly sure what that means or how that correlates to anything. I'll keep working on that front._

_Chloe though. Chloe is the interesting part. You know how Lana said she was always in danger? She wasn't kidding. It was like every Thursday your girl was in mortal danger. And she survived death._ **_A lot_ ** _. I've been keeping a list of the situations Lana can remember - and she even admits to not knowing everything - but your girl was thrown from a bridge, from a dam, was pushed out of the fourth story window a castle, was buried alive, had all the heat sucked out of her body and left to freeze to death… the list is endless. And again, much of this happened before Lana even became friends with her. Your girl should be dead. A hundred times over. Lana said Chloe was 'too tenacious to die' but honestly, this might have to do with the magic inside of her._

_According to Lana, or at least the bits she can get out without the spells shutting her up, they had their magic trapped in them as babies so the Ministry wouldn't be able to find them when they came of age, and the spell was only successfully removed from Lana. Lois seems to be able to use magic, but her control is not very good and she seems to have more enhanced physical abilities, while Chloe apparently cannot use her magic and cannot use a wand because of it. She is only able to use her magic to_ **_heal_ ** _. Which, of course, probably explains why she didn't die all the times she should have._

_Finally, you should know that that girl really likes you for some unknown, unexplainable reason. According to Lana, Chloe has had some sort of 'masochistic attraction' (her words, not mine - although I agree with the sentiment) towards you from the very beginning of your pen pal days, and she's somehow managed not to want to murder you yet, so do your best to not be a total arse to her and cock this up. I think this might just be the only girl in the entire world who will actually put up with you._

_Blaise_

Draco ignored that last bit of Zabini's 'wisdom' on his relationship with Chloe, deciding to go over the rest of the letter again later, for now he needed to get the warning out.

**_Zabini, they know you are helping Lana. You need to vigilant. They are coming after you both with all that they've got. You're HIS top priority right now, and from what I've managed to glimpse, he might be doing something to turn Chloe's mind against Rosier, most probably in preparation for what he has planned for your girlfriend. They are also giving Chloe a 'pet project' so to speak to keep her distracted, which I believe means they will be making a move soon that they do not want her to notice._ **

**_That move might be for Rosier, and in extension, you._ **

**_Don't get distracted. Don't get stupid. Don't get caught._ **

**_Draco_ **


	8. Chapter 8

"I don't understand anything that's going on right now," Ron mumbled as he sat down next to Harry and Hermione by the fire long after everyone else had gone to bed. They'd managed to get some answers today at the picnic as planned - they now knew for sure that Chloe Malfoy (if that was truly her name) was the one who'd been in Hogwarts pretending to be Pansy - but they'd also gotten  _so_  many more questions! "Is she a Death Eater? Because, well," he scratched his head, "I don't think I've ever seen a Death Eater cry."

"She's utterly  _terrified_  of Harry," Hermione recalled with shock as she nibbled on her thumbnail, clearly deep in thought, probably thinking back to the picnic fiasco, as well as to when the trio quickly switched places with George, Fred and Ginny inside of the bathroom (with the help of Polyjuice) so that no one would think it weird that the trio had disappeared right after Draco and Chloe left. The trio had been able to catch up with Draco and Malfoy in the woods, Harry's Invisibility Cloak keeping them hidden. They'd made sure to keep as quiet as possible, and yet Chloe had seemed to sense they were there.

"I don't think she's really a bad guy," Ron mumbled as he plopped a chocolate into his mouth. "I mean, sure, I think she's on the wrong side, but there's a lot about what's happening here that doesn't make any sense."

"Ron's right, something's really  _weird_  about the whole situation," Hermione agreed, and looked very uneasy for having done so. "She nearly had a mental breakdown, Harry. Honestly, if Malfoy hadn't sedated her when he did…"

"How does she not know about the story of your scar?" Ron wanted to know as he pointed to said scar, as if they all needed reminding of it. "You heard her, she  _saw_  your mother's death when you touched her in Hogwarts, but she not only doesn't  _know_  the story of the bloody BOY WHO LIVED - the most  _famous_  person in the whole Wizarding World - but she thinks  _you_  bloody did the murdering! Hell! She didn't even know you're called the Boy Who Lived!"

"Again, Ron has a point." Hermione made a face once more, pulling a crazy curl out of her face and behind her ear. "I'm a muggle and even  _I_  knew everything about you before I met you on the train. Chloe also thinks you killed Cedric, which... everyone knows what really happened, how Voldemort killed him and…" She frowned, clearly not wanting to think too long on that subject. "I'm glad I asked Viktor to approach her when I realized that you were having problems keeping her from running after your dance. Because of that we have an in now, and the things Viktor has gleaned while visiting the Malfoy Manor… He's a Pureblood and a celebrity, he'll be able to have access to households we never would, and if it hadn't been for his visits we'd never know as much as we do about her, or her situation with the Malfoy's, as we do now. And yet we still don't know much about her except the fact that she's an only child, her mother is dead and her father always 'away on business', she's scared of heights,  _incredibly_  smart, has let some Muggle terms slip that Viktor didn't understand yet didn't acknowledge because he saw how worried her saying those things made the Malfoys. And when he told me about them later, they were things that I definitely recognized from having lived in the Muggle world."

"It's like when she was pretending to be Parkinson," Ron reminded as he got more comfortable. "She kept talking about things like awards named Oscar, and Guardian Angels and stuff. Really weird."

"All Muggle things," Hermione agreed very rapidly, leaning in closer to them as she did so. "Also, we know from her interactions with the first years that Chloe isn't prejudiced against those with impure blood. Let's be honest, Riley was her favorite, and Riley doesn't have a drop of wizarding blood in him."

"Isn't it weird how those First Years seemed to realize something was different about Parkinson though?" Ron frowned as he sat up straighter. "I mean,  _we_  knew Parkinson was herself because of the Marauders Map, but those kids seemed to have figured out something very quickly. Especially that Riley kid. He keeps watching Parkinson with narrowed eyes, clearly suspicious of something."

"That's not actually important now, Ron, we're talking about Chloe Malfoy." Hermione let out a little huff as she straightened her shoulders. "Thanks to Viktor we also know that unlike the Malfoys, she isn't snobbish, he actually described her as  _sweet_  and  _lonely,_ as well as normally very pale and seeming to be always worried about something, which a part of me wants to believe is all part of the ruse but instincts tell me is not the case. You can't keep an act like that up perfectly all the time. You saw the way she reacted when I offered to cast that warming charm on her. She was terrified. Even if she only revealed it for a second it was there, and maybe if I hadn't been watching for it I wouldn't have realized - but I did. She's terrified of Harry, but she's scared of us as well."

"Not me," Ron corrected quickly with a huff at the declaration. "She likes me."

Hermione pouted, clearly deep in thought. "You're right, she  _has_  shown a preference for you. I mean, she approached you in Hogwarts and didn't appear to be planning on attacking you or slipping you something with potions in it - and you and Viktor were the only two she actually genuinely smiled at today."

"If you two hadn't basically attacked us that day I probably could've gotten something out of her too," Ron mumbled, like he always did whenever this topic came up. "Sure, I thought she was taking me somewhere to attack me, but it was very obvious very quickly that she just wanted to talk. Maybe, if we'd talked longer, I could've found something out."

"No use crying over spilt milk, Ronald," Hermione grumbled before taking in a deep breath and starting once again. "Getting back to the topic, Viktor also told me that apparently she's very un-Malfoyishly kind to House Elves and seems to favor one in particular."

"Trixie!" Ron remembered victoriously, both he and Harry had been there when Viktor had informed Hermione of that fact. "Do you think Dobby would be able to get any information out of the House Elves? He  _did_  use to work for the Malfoys." His expression darkened. "Thinking about it, probably not, their loyalty is to their masters."

Hermione frowned darkly, like she always did when the topic of House Elves and their (mostly) happy enslavement was brought up, clearly souring her mouth, yet she continued on. "Getting back to her familiarity with Muggle things… her words today confirmed it, didn't they? You both heard her while we were under the Invisibility Cloak… she was  _taken_  from the Muggle world two years ago and told at that time that she was a witch - that's far from the usual invitation you get at eleven years of age. How did she manage to keep hidden so long? The Ministry uses  _spells_  that automatically detect magic in any child once it becomes active, which is usually during their pubescence. That's how muggleborns like me are found. So how did  _she_  not get found until  _two years_  ago?"

"And why does she see things about you when she touches you?" Ron grabbed another chocolate and bit into it. "And how doesn't she know the stories behind what she's seeing? I mean,  _everyone_  knows about Quirrell by now, don't they? Again, I need to point out that Harry's the most famous person in the Wizarding World right now and everything you do is highly publicized so everyone knows about it. Hell, no one believed you that  _You Know Who_  was back until, you know. And yet she  _didn't_  know any of this, and to  _her_  it just looks like you're killing babies and burning up blokes."

"She also thinks you're going to try and kill her," Hermione reminded immediately once he was done. "That was apparently the second thing she was told once she realized she was a witch, that you and Dumbledore were evil and would kill her."

"Sounds like something Death Eaters would say," Ron chimed in immediately. "It really sounds like some Death Eaters found her, grabbed her from her home with the Muggles, and totally lied to her about  _everything_. They must've also kept her in total isolation for those two years otherwise she'd  _know_  about you and about stuff that she clearly doesn't know about."

"Why would they do that though?" Hermione nibbled on her bottom lip. "Why go through all that trouble? And what sort of connection does she have with Harry? There has to be one! They feel pain around each other, sometimes have nose bleeds at the same time, and she seems to get headaches exactly where Harry's scar would be. I'm not exactly sure since his hairstyle is covering his scar, but when she was rubbing her forehead I thought it was at least very close to where Harry's scar is."

"Blimey, I hadn't noticed that!" Ron's eyes widened. "Is that true, Harry?"

Harry Potter finally looked up from the fire, which he had been eyeing intently since they'd started this conversation. Hermione was right. There was some sort of connection between him and Chloe Malfoy. He'd sensed her in Hogwarts, he'd sensed her at the ball he'd been forced to attend, and he'd sensed her at the picnic, had sensed her so physically he'd easily been able to find and follow her and Draco despite them having had a bit of a lead on them. Being around Chloe somewhat hurt  _them both_ , and touching each other resulted in them seeing things. Things that...

Harry sighed and rubbed his scar.

He'd been confused when he'd seen Viktor approaching Chloe after the girl very obviously  _ran_  from him after their dance, but The Boy Who Lived had quickly turned very relieved that Hermione was so faithful to this mission - so very so that she'd sacrificed her unofficial date for the cause. Thanks to that they now had an in with Chloe Malfoy. Viktor was on the fringe enough that he could be welcomed into the Malfoy home and give the trio detailed information of little things he picked up on during his visits - such as the fact that not only did Draco Malfoy clearly have un-cousin-like feelings for the girl, but he also considered Viktor a rival in the worse of ways.

The Tri-Wizard competitor, alert from years of dodging Bludgers and players - as well as the tournament itself - had admitted to not only feeling very dangerous, silent yet nearly physical warnings for him to back off if he got too close to Chloe, but more than once more he'd sensed the beginning of a curse being formed only for Chloe to shift in the way, and the hex would die. At first he'd believed the girl oblivious, but after about the fifth or sixth time she'd gotten in the way of a potential hex he'd caught her sending a reproachful look in Draco's way, proving she'd not only realized what was happening, but had purposely put herself in between Viktor and any hex Malfoy was seconds away from sending, protecting Viktor with her own body as discreetly as she could. She'd also send a look in Lucius' direction every time this happened before sighing in relief whenever it was made obvious that Lucius had no idea of what had gone down.

According to Viktor, while the cousins were obviously close, he did not know whether Chloe actually reciprocated Malfoy's amorous feelings, or if she was just incredibly lonely and scared, latching onto the protection that Malfoy could provide her with given his standing in the British Wizarding Society. Either way, Viktor assured the trio that Draco gave him looks which claimed his cousin as his solely, Chloe did no outwards claiming but clearly - almost instinctually - gravitated towards Draco, and Lucius Malfoy did not seem to approve.

Considering cousin-weddings were very much accepted and expected in the Pureblood families, this was quite intriguing. Viktor said that Lucius doted on Chloe, treated her better than he did his own son, and it did not seem to be for show as Chloe appeared quite fond and trusting of Lucius in turn, so if Lucius had an issue with a union between her and Draco, clearly the one he had issue with was his very own heir.

And that continued to raise more and more questions.

Harry had so many questions!

"When I touched her today I didn't see my fight with Quirrell," he admitted finally, looking up to see his friends' wide eyes on him. "But I  _did_  see something." He'd seen a couple of things if he was being honest, it was why he'd continued to touch her like he had, but for right now he was only ready to reveal one of those things.

"What did you see?" Hermione shifted closer, her hair falling into her face, causing her to blow it away impatiently.

"Yeah, Harry, what  _did_  you see?" Ron asked while grabbing more chocolates.

"I saw my mother's death, but this time, I saw… there was someone else in the room with Voldemort that night." Harry clenched his fists tightly. "I'd seen a flash of it before, when we touched in Hogwarts, but I hadn't really gotten a good look at it like I did this time. There was a woman behind Voldemort and she was holding a baby, and the baby was covered in blood, and was crying just like I was."

Ron's mouth fell open.

Hermione's eyes widened. "You think she was there the night your parents were murdered. You think Chloe Malfoy was the other baby."

Harry nodded. He'd had a suspicion when he'd seen the brief glimpse in Hogwarts, but now he was more than sure of it. Chloe Malfoy had been there, in the arms of one of Voldemort's followers, and had been witness to Harry's parents' deaths, as well as Voldemort's Avada Kedavra backfiring on him.

"That means she's probably the daughter of Death Eaters who went into hiding after He Who Must Not Be Named was defeated that night in Godric's Hollow." Hermione curled her finger through one of her frizzy locks, clearly deep in thought. "Harry, we know  _something_  happened that night - you are the first survivor of that curse, and it gave you that scar. What if—what if whatever happened that night is responsible for your connection with her? Maybe somehow it snapped back on her too? Maybe that's why she feels pain where your scar would be?" She groaned and shook her head. "I don't know! But, Harry,  _why_  would You Know Who bring her to your murder?"

"Yeah, that's… that's weird, even for him," Ron agreed as he scrunched up his nose.

"Unless…" Hermione gulped.

Harry narrowed his eyes on her. "Unless  _what_?"

Hermione avoided his gaze before sighing and finally meeting him. "We know he has done all sorts of foul magic in the past and continues to do so, there is no taboo for a monster like him."

Harry nodded, agreeing a hundred per cent and wanting her to get to the point.

"Harry, what if your parents' deaths weren't just because of the prophecy?" Hermione was clearly very uncomfortable with whatever she was going to say. "What if he was planning on using their deaths as part of a ritual -  _your_  death, Harry, an innocent  _baby's_  death. That—that could fuel the darkest of spells."

Harry felt glued to his place, sick to his stomach at the implication. "You think he was going to use our deaths to fuel some spell that, what, he was going to cast on  _her_?"

"What kind of spell—?" Ron made a face and shook his head. "You know what? I don't want to know."

"It wouldn't have been complete, he wouldn't have been able to finish it because he was the one who got hit with the Avada, not you." Hermione clenched her fists. "But that sort of magic - it would still be  _binding_ ,  _connecting_." She looked up at Harry with utter sadness. "Harry, I don't really know if that's the case, but with all the facts I have so far, I think it very well might be. It makes sense. It adds up."

Harry gulped.

"You Know Who knew he needed to kill you because of the prophecy and decided to use that energy for some horrible spell he was casting on Chloe Malfoy, who, as a Malfoy, would no doubt have been offered up as the Malfoys are all sniveling…" Hermione stopped herself and took in a deep breath, regrouping. "So he took her, maybe with her mother, and went to your house, starting the process by killing your father and mother, but he got hit by the Avada and seemingly is killed. You're alive though. In the haste the mother would've taken her child away and the family would've escaped into the Muggle world to hide - if they were willing to offer up their child they must've been very deep into his group and knew what would happen to them if caught. Maybe they tried to hide her magic to keep her from being detected by the Ministry - and thus giving away their position. There has to be some spell to do that, not that I have heard of any."

"Probably is," Ron agreed, munching once more on the chocolate and listening to Hermione, enraptured with her theory.

"But then You Know Who comes back, but he needs a while to get his strength back - he doesn't get his body back until Cedric - and then afterwards he can bring Chloe and her family back to the fold and maybe even restart whatever he'd started doing to her as a child. But Ron was right, for her to be so ignorant of things that are common knowledge, it means You Know Who kept her in isolation for two years. Who knows  _what_  he did to her then? Except for the fact that he has her believing you're evil and will want to kill her… obviously she was raised Muggle, it means she wouldn't have the blood-hatred that she would've normally had growing up with Death Eaters as parents. That means she'd be more like you than like him in her beliefs." Hermione was definitely on a roll, her eyes widening further and further. "He'd also want to keep her afraid of you, and thus very far away from you, because…" Her brown eyes suddenly widened impossible large. "Oh my god, Harry."

"What is it?" He leaned in closer.

"Do you remember what she said? About suddenly having all sorts of questions she'd never thought of before suddenly spiraling out of her just because you were next to her?" Hermione gripped her hair tightly, breathing erratically. "Harry, you've been getting Occlumency lessons from Snape for a while now because He Who Must Not Be Named is one of the most powerful Legimency users ever, and even with those countless lessons you sometimes have issues with blocking him out." She looked up at him. "Imagine a girl who didn't even know witches or wizards existed until two years ago. You saw her. She was manic. That's an unstable mind. Probably one that's been tampered with." She leaned forwards and grabbed his hand, squeezing tightly. "Harry, I think the fact that you survived You Know Who's murder attempt might've accidentally linked you and her together, maybe, whatever he was trying to do to her -  _happened to both of you_."

Harry's eyes widened as he thought it over. They couldn't be sure this was exactly what had happened, but something similar could've happened, and it was the closest thing he had to an explanation for everything odd that was going on. Even if Hermione was completely off base and something else was going on, he and Chloe Malfoy were connected, and obviously she was also connected to Death Eaters and Voldemort himself.

Whatever it was, Dumbledore  _knew_. It was obvious. They'd brought the situation to his attention when Chloe (and that other girl) had been parading as Hogwarts students, and yet Dumbledore had not only not done anything about it, but he'd told them not to either. That meant that he hadn't thought the two girls were dangerous. Maybe, maybe he'd  _wanted_  Chloe and Harry to meet, to realize there was some sort of connection between them. It wouldn't be the first time the Headmaster hadn't said something but had steered Harry in the direction he needed to go in.

"What are you going to do, Harry?" Ron wanted to know after the silence had dragged on between the three of them.

Harry sighed and looked between his friends. The smart thing would probably be to stay as far away from Chloe Malfoy as possible… but… "I'm going to make friends with her, show her I'm not going to kill her, and then maybe when she realizes all the lies she's been told we can figure things out together."

"How do you plan on doing that though?" Hermione wanted to know, clearly backing this plan. "She's terrified of you. Also, there's school to think about. We won't be on holiday forever."

Harry sighed, knowing this was going to get him a fair bit of scolding. "When I took off my jacket and placed it around her shoulders, I used the motion - and her distraction - to subtly put a spell on her."

Ron's eyes widened. "That was wicked smooth, Harry!"

" _Harry_!" Hermione looked shocked. "What spell did you put on her? When she finds out-."

"She won't," Harry assured Hermione yet hurried to continue before she could insist he tell her what spell he'd put on Chloe Malfoy. "And about the other issues you raised... I have a plan, but I'm going to need  _your_ help."

* * *

"The girl sent something off before we could stop her, but we have them in custody in the dungeons below, My Lord," Gregory Goyle Sr declared as he stood before Lord Voldemort. "They obliviated certain memories before we could break down the wards around them, and they destroyed the documents and books and everything in the room they were staying in. If anyone was helping them, I doubt we will discover it."

Sometimes Voldemort wondered at the incompetence of his men. At least they'd managed to find the girl and her lover, and they were right where they needed to be - the dungeons of Riddle Manor. He'd have to make sure Chloe did not come to visit them for a while, not while things were happening at least, not until everything was ready. He'd been working on her mind, but with its fragility he'd been truly unable to do what he wished, so he had to work slowly, and that made things more… complicated.

He was still frowning at this thought when he finally made his way down to the dungeons to observe his captives. They were both bound magically, shackled, close to each other but not close enough to touch other than their fingertips, which they were touching while staring at each other.

Emotions such as the ones displayed on their faces as they looked at each other were ones Voldemort didn't understand and never would. They were useless emotions, weak emotions. It was these emotions which had ultimately led to both of their downfall.

"Welcome back, Lana," he declared as he eyed the girl pensively. "And welcome to you as well, Mister Zabini." He eyed the boy who'd taken his Mark yet had turned against him, seemingly without a second thought. "I hope you find your accommodations acceptable."

"I won't let you hurt her," young Zabini whispered darkly in promise. "I'll kill you if you touch her."

"Blaise, don't," Lana whispered immediately in audible fear, clearly worried about any retribution his words might bring to him. She turned her hazel eyes from her lover to Voldemort. "I know what you're doing to do with me. I know the truth - at least  _my_  truth."

Did she now? How intriguing.

"I won't fight you," Lana promised as she stared up at him. "Just let Blaise live."

"Don't you dare!" Zabini snarled at her. "Don't you freaking  _dare_ , Lana!"

"I corrupted him, I turned him from you, this is all  _my_  fault, not his," she pleaded with Voldemort. "So please,  _please_  forgive him his life. I will let you take mine without fighting, but  _please_  save his."

"No." Zabini shook his head. "NO!"

Voldemort stared into the girl's tear-filled hazel eyes. It reminded him so much of Chloe's as she begged for Lana's life to be spared. "Chloe begged me for your life, just as you beg for his." He could see the shock on her face. "How betrayed will she feel knowing you turned against and abandoned her and Lois? All for what? A boy?"

"I didn't betray or abandon them! I wanted to save them from you, I just didn't know how!" Lana yelled at him, surprising furious in her anger. "They don't know the truth but  _I do_ , and I—I—."

"You  _what_?" He moved closer to the bars with a little smirk, amused at her show of backbone.

Lana took in a deep breath before meeting his gaze fixedly. "You might kill me, Voldemort, but that doesn't mean you've won. Far from it." She smiled darkly at him. "When you kill me, you will have started the first step towards your own destruction."

Her assurance unexpectedly bothered him but he refused to show it. "Is that so?"

"Yes," she assured him.

His hands clenched in his hands before he sneered at her. "Well, we shall see, won't we?"

He turned to leave and start the preparations, but behind him he could hear Lana and Zabini whisper soft words of love and encouragement towards each other. The sounds made the darkness inside of him grow.

Weakness. Weakness. Weakness.

How he hated love and how it made even those with the greatest of potentials  _weak_.

With utter disgust, he climbed up the stairs and left the two in the dark, with chains, shackles, imminent death, and whispered words of mutually shared love.

* * *

The scratching on his window woke him up from a very weird dream he'd been having where a young girl scrubbed her hands clean so hard she'd started to bleed. Whatever had awoken him from the odd dream was welcomed, and as Harry put on his glasses and turned on the light in his room in the burrow, he was surprised to see an owl there.

Sitting up in bed, Harry opened the window and immediately the owl dropped a heavy package onto his lap before flying right back out of the burrow and disappearing into the night sky.

Confused, Harry eyed the neat handwriting.

_To Harry Potter - Weasley Burrow._

Confusion growing, Harry opened the package to find some books and a collection of other things, but what caught his attention was the scroll tied with a ribbon on top of everything.

What the hell was going on? Who was this from?

Pulling the ribbon off, Harry opened up the scroll and read the neat handwriting, which was the same as the one that had addressed the package in the first place.

**_Dear Harry Potter_ **

**_You do not know who I am, but I know so much about you. For so long so much of what I knew were lies, but, I digress._ **

**_If you're receiving this package it means that Voldemort has found me, and if that's so, it means I'm going to be dead very soon. It also means you're my only, last hope. Not for my own survival, it's already too late for me if you're reading this, but for theirs._ **

His eyes widened in horror as he straightened in his bed and brought the parchment up closer.

**_My name is Lana, and I'm your distant cousin - I'm a Potter as well, amongst other things. I didn't know all this growing up, I was raised a Muggle and only found out the truth of my parentage two years ago when Death Eaters found me and two other girls in the town where our guardians were raising us in hiding, a place called Smallville, Kansas, USA. The names of these other two girls are Lois and Chloe, and they are the ones you need to save._ **

Harry felt sick with both nerves, unable to believe what he was reading.

**_We were taken to live with Lord Voldemort for two years, and in those two years we were very much indoctrinated in the Death Eater belief system. You and Dumbledore were painted as tyrannical figureheads of a ruthless war who were searching for us, and others of our kind, to kill us. We feared you, Harry, you were the monster of our nightmares, and I'm afraid that you are most probably still Lois and Chloe's personal Boogeyman because they don't know what I do._ **

**_Voldemort is a liar. He is evil. And he's got horrible things planned for us._ **

**_You know, you and I met briefly when I was in Hogwarts pretending to be Millicent Bulstrode with the help of Polyjuice Potion. It was there that I started to realize that maybe we have been told very terrible things - lies. We didn't know about what Voldemort did to you, or to other children, how he massacred people just because they were muggleborn. We never heard of the story of the Basilisk or the murder of Cedric Diggory or anything that could paint Voldemort in a terrible light._ **

**_For two years Voldemort was our lord and savior, and to learn it was all a lie broke a part of me that will never be fixed._ **

**_But that is not important now._ **

**_Blaise Zabini is helping me, has risked his life for me, and I hope that he does not get captured when I do because he doesn't deserve it. I love him. You're the only person I've been able to actually admit that to. Voldemort has separated Chloe, Lois and I, most probably to keep us in further isolation so that we cannot influence each other - so he will be our influencer._ **

**_It didn't work on me. I killed Bellatrix Lestrange and I escaped. But obviously, since you're reading this, it means he found and caught me. He'll kill me, because that was what I was born for - to die so he can gain power._ **

**_I don't really have much time, I'm writing this without Blaise's knowledge because he'd never forgive what he'd consider a doubt in our ability to pull this off._ **

**_Harry, there's something you need to know, Voldemort has made Horcruxes. It's part of why he is so horribly disfigured. I don't know what they are or how many of them there are, but he has them. If you're going to defeat him you need to find and destroy his Horcruxes. Blaise and I were searching for them, and we think you may have already destroyed one - the Riddle Diary._ **

**_My purpose is to die to return some of his original power to him - as well as his original form. Don't be surprised if you see him and he has changed. It just means I am dead and my part in his plan has been complete… and knowing him, he's going to blame you for my death when it becomes known._ **

**_So, don't worry about me, like I said if you're reading this I'm already dead, but there's still time for Lois and Chloe._ **

**_I don't know what their purpose is, and even if I did I would be unable to actually write it down as there are various spells placed on me and them that make it impossible to do so. But I have gathered as much information as I could, notes and books and every important bit Blaise and I have managed to gather so far… and I've sent them to you along with this message._ **

**_Voldemort says you would kill us, but I'm begging you to save them._ **

**_Your cousin_ **

**_Lana_ **

Harry stared down at the parchment, eyes wide in horror, as a single tear slipped down his cheek. He'd never met this cousin, but he could feel her emotion in each and every word.

The girl they'd seen pretending to be Millicent, it'd been his  _cousin_ , family he hadn't even known he'd had!

Had he known— had he known—he could've helped sooner! Maybe she wouldn't have had to…

To…

To die.

There was a sudden, soft  _poof_ , and then Dobby stood in front of him on the bed, eyes wide. "Harry Potter! Dobby has news!" The freed House Elf then frowned as he noticed Harry's face. "Is Harry Potter sad?"

Forcing his face into a smile, not wanting to burden Dobby with this depressing news, Harry cleared his throat. "Sorry, I had a bad dream. What is it Dobby? You looked excited."

The excitement returned to Dobby's face as he grew animated. "Dobby has news! Dobby talked to the House Elves of Malfoy Manor to find out information on Chloe Malfoy…" He frowned. "Most would not talk, they consider Dobby a traitor for taking the sock and being free. All they want is to serve serve serve those awful Malfoys." He then shook his head. "But Trixie talked to Dobby! Trixie wanted to boast!"

Harry tilted his head in intrigue, pushing back his eternal confusion as to why most House Elves did not desire freedom, and many times were highly offended if offered it - or if it were even suggested as a possibility. Dobby was doing great ever since Harry had helped trick Lucius into freeing him, and the Boy Who Lived was sad that more of his kind not only didn't experience the life of freedom - they didn't even want it.

"Trixie  _loves_  Miss Chloe!" Dobby came closer, a smile on his face, whether it was because he had news or whether it was the news itself was not immediately obvious. "Trixie says Miss Chloe favors Trixie above the other House Elves and treats Trixie very kindly. Chloe Malfoy says please and thank you, and tells Trixie that Trixie is Chloe Malfoy's  _friend_." Dobby made a face. "Chloe Malfoy does not act like a Malfoy." He then shook his head and continued in his energetic informing. "Trixie told Dobby that Lucius Malfoy gave her to Chloe Malfoy tonight as a reward. Trixie was so happy, had been sad when thinking Chloe Malfoy would leave one day and return. But Harry Potter — Trixie was wearing  _clothes_."

Harry's eyes widened in absolute shock. This was not where he'd thought this conversation was headed! " _What_?"

"Trixie told Dobby that after Lucius Malfoy left, Chloe Malfoy offered Trixie a scarf. Trixie was saaaad! Trixie cried! Trixie thought Chloe Malfoy did not  _want_  Trixie as her personal House Elf and wanted Trixie gone! Trixie is like the other House Elves, Trixie does not want to be free." Dobby frowned at this before shaking his head. "But Trixie said Chloe Malfoy hugged Trixie and comforted Trixie, saying Trixie was Chloe Malfoy's friend, and Chloe Malfoy wanted to see Trixie in pretty clothes, not shoeless and in rags." Dobby was grinning, clearly ecstatic to hear and relay this. "Chloe Malfoy told Trixie it would hurt Chloe Malfoy to not be able to dress Trixie in fine clothes, that it did not mean Chloe Malfoy did not want Trixie - Trixie could stay with Chloe Malfoy forever if Trixie wanted to." Dobby's smile grew and grew, it was large and funny. "Trixie took the scarf to make Chloe Malfoy happy, but Trixie kept touching the scarf and smiling. Trixie is very happy." Dobby moved in closer, eyes wide, voice low as if sharing a monumental secret. "Harry Potter, Dobby thinks Chloe Malfoy tricked Trixie into being free." He chuckled and pulled back amused. "And Trixie is called Trixie because Trixie is… tricksy! But Trixie was tricked!"

Harry blinked, taking all of that in. Despite looking the part, Chloe really did not act like a Malfoy (even if a Muggle-raised one), not in public, and most definitely not behind closed doors. He remembered the abuse Dobby had gone through in Malfoy Manor at the hands of his Masters, and Harry was always grateful that he'd managed to trick Lucius into giving Dobby his freedom - so the fact that Chloe had so quickly gained the love of one of the House Elves in that Manor just went to prove that she was consistently kind to it.

"But Dobby is confused. From what Trixie told Dobby, Chloe Malfoy is more like Harry Potter than any Malfoy Dobby has ever known." Dobby's countenance darkened. "And Dobby has known many Malfoys."

Harry had no idea how to react to any of this. First his connection to Chloe, then Lana's letter, and now Dobby's report all jumbled up inhis head. "What else did Trixie tell you about Chloe?"

Dobby made a face. "After boasting, Trixie no longer wished to speak to Dobby, says Dobby cannot be trusted because of friendship with Harry Potter." He looked sad at that before clearing his throat and continuing. "But Trixie did tell Dobby one thing before stopping herself. Trixie told Dobby Chloe Malfoy is being trained by Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy in Pureblood etiquette, which confuses Dobby because these trainings are given to Purebloods from the time they are very young children. It seems late, to Dobby, to begin her studies now."

It wouldn't be if Chloe had been living as a Muggle until two years ago. More and more the pieces began to fall into place and make more and more sense.

"Trixie only told Dobby this because Trixie was bragging on how 'superior' Chloe Malfoy was to Lois Gaunt - whom Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy trained right before Chloe Malfoy."

Harry froze. Had Trixie just accidentaly given them the surname of the 'Lois' in Lana's letter? If they were to look for and find this third girl, this information would be vital!

_We might be able to do this..._

Clearing his throat, Harry took in a deep breath as his gaze lowered to the letter he still held clutched in his hands. He didn't know how he was going to do it, but he'd honor his cousin's last request.

Somehow he'd find and save Lois and Chloe, even if they fought him the whole way.

* * *

The screams echoed throughout the manor. It was probably the fact that he hadn't been asleep, that he'd been roaming the halls, that Draco had managed to make it to Chloe's bedroom before anyone else.

Throwing open the doors, he saw her bed empty, but she was quickly found in the corner of the room, crouched down, gripping her head and screaming, wailing like a banshee.

"Chloe?" He hurried towards her, kneeling in front of her, not sure whether to touch her or if that would only make things worse. "What happened? What is it?"

"The green flash." She clutched her hair tighter and sobbed. "The green flash." She rocked back and forth, sobbing those three words over and over again in between wails. " _The green flash_!"

"What about the green flash?  _What_  green flash?" She wasn't making any sense! He reached forwards and grabbed her face, forcing her haunted, terrified eyes to meet his silvery and worried ones. "Chloe,  _what_  green flash? What's  _wrong_?"

She stared up at him in despair and then threw herself at him, gripping him painfully tight as she sobbed. "... _dead_." She hid her face in his shirt. "I don't know how I know, but she's dead.  _Lana's dead_."

Horror filled Draco as he froze. She'd had a nightmare. It had to have been a nightmare! Otherwise, it would mean Zabini and Rosier—.

Chloe lost all ability to speak coherently after that, merely sobbing desperately in his arms, and that is how the others found them when they finally got to the room. Tons of questions were being asked, but Draco had no answer, especially none that wouldn't make him appear incredibly suspicious.

_They are not dead. This is a nightmare fueled by Chloe's fear for Rosier's well-being._   _I'll write to Zabini and he'll confirm they're okay_. _They_ ** _are_** _okay._

And yet later, when he wrote, there was no response, in fact, the message was never sent, the ink instead disappearing from the parchment, and that could only mean one thing. The linked Sweetheart scroll had been destroyed.

Draco leaned hard against the wall as realization sunk in.

Lana Rosier and Blaise Zabini were dead.

—

**End - Draco Malfoy and the Potter Conundrum**

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